We Support You Blog Hop Sneak Peek #13

This is the 13th sneak peek of my project for the We Support You Blog Hop, 

hosted by Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt. 

Our wonderful cheerleader is Pat from Life in the Scrapatch.

I thought the butterfly might be a little more interesting than the letter "T."

This blog hop is only 8 days away. (Wow, time is flying by!)

I am happy to say, I made great progress yesterday.  

(Good thing, as I have no time to work on it today.)

Thank you all so much for stopping by 

and dropping me kind words of encouragement and support!

Renee

We Support You Blog Hop Sneak Peek #12

This "I" is the 12th sneak peek of my project for the We Support You Blog Hop, hosted by Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt. Our wonderful cheerleader is Pat from Life in the Scrapatch.

All of my free crafting time is going into this project, so if I did not share these tiny teasers, you would not be hearing from me at all.  I just hope I am not building up too much anticipation!  (I would hate to have you all disappointed with the actual reveal on the 30th...)  

If you read my last post, you know I made an oops.  I am happy to say that piece has been remade. A second mistake I made has also been fixed (thankfully that was a sewing oops.  My seam ripper and I are now BFFs!) 

Hopefully, the 8 hours I have to dedicate to the project today will not be taking 2 steps forward and 1 step back.  Even if they do, I am learning and gaining more sewing skills. Machine sewing really is not my strong point, but how else is a girl to learn?!

Anyway... the blog hop is a short 9 days away.  My day is 10 days away.  I have 2 days that I will not have time to work on this, which leaves about a week to finish up. (I am aiming to finish sooner.) Boy, am I glad I started on this the day after Thanksgiving!  (I am S-L-O-W!)  ;)

Now, I am off to see the lovely Tammy Bags and Pinnies presented on Day 8 - the final day - of the Tammy for all Season's Blog Hop at Sew We Quilt.  (Due to technical difficulties, I did not share the link to Day 7 - it is HERE if you would like to join the fun and visit.)

Thanks for stopping by!
Renee

We Support You Blog Hop Sneak Peek #11

This little flower is the 11th sneak peek of my project for the We Support You Blog Hop, hosted by Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt. Our wonderful cheerleader is Pat from Life in the Scrapatch.

The light pink size 12 Finca perle cotton flower, made up with 5 lazy daisy stitches and a French knot, did not show up much on this fabric. A second set of outlining lazy daisy stitches, made with a darker pink size 8 Anchor perle cotton was the perfect solution.  

I do so hope the "big reveal" of my project lives up to your expectations.

Yesterday, I was thrilled to finish the last bit of embroidery planned for this project.

I was also incredibly nervous that I might mess things up. Completely unfounded, right? Maybe not...

Things were going right along at my turtle-like pace and IT happened.  "Measure twice, cut once," isn't that the saying?  Well, I measured 3 times, but forgot the seam allowance...

Could I make it work? Yes. But it would be a glaring mistake.  There are just too many hours invested to leave this oops.

On a positive note, at least this was literally the easiest piece to do over.  I only have a teensy-weensy bit of the embroidery floss remaining that needs to be used.  Hopefully, it will be enough.  If not, my wonderful hubby has offered to drive out of town to the only store I know that carries this particular floss to buy it for me.  (He is sweet, isn't he?!)

This little oops of mine pretty much scared me away from the new technique I was planning to use.  I think I may save that for a project without an impending deadline.  Of course, my alternative plan will be a bit more time consuming.  It is still something relatively new to me, so it will be a learning experience.  I have 10 very busy days in front of me! :)

Off I go!  Thank you for stopping by.

Renee

A Beaded Floral Seam and Silk Ribbon Motif

Last night, I did a bit more on the crazy quilt piece I shared on January 13th.

(Click on any image for a larger view.)

I just love how a fly stitch and a straight stitch (using a strand of DMC #4045 size 5 perle cotton) topped with a seed bead can make such a cute little flower.

For added interest, French knots were added between the flowers 

using pink Anchor size 8 perle cotton.

River Silks 4 mm silk ribbon in a light pink (color #18) and a brighter pink (color #20) were used to create spider web roses and detached chain stitch rose buds. 

A dark green (color #78) silk ribbon created detached chain stitched leaves for the roses and straight stitched leaves for the buds.

At this point, I was a bit worried.  

I did not like the location of one of the leaves I added and the motif still looked pretty bare. 

So, I worked in some feathered chain stitches using a strand of DMC #699 size 12 perle cotton to create a bit of greenery. 

A few light pink seed beads created more tiny flowers.

In each corner of the ric rac bordered rectangle, I added a pair of detached chain stitches (leaves) with the same DMC #699 size 12 perle cotton. 

A French knot (flower) was added with pink Anchor size 8 perle cotton.

Considering how nervous I was with the way it looked with only the silk ribbon roses, 

I am quite pleased with how this little motif turned out.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Renee

We Support You Blog Hop Sneak Peek #10 and Tree Bird Blog Hop Announcement

It is not a horribly exciting sneak peek, but a peek it is...

This "A" was stitched using a single strand of green Anchor size 8 perle cotton and a linked chain stitch.

I am thrilled to be about a day away from finishing the embroidery for my We Support You Blog Hop. 

The next step will be completely new to me and I am really, really, really hoping it turns out well. Whatever happens, I am stepping outside of my comfort zone in an effort to learn something new!

The We Support You Blog Hop, organized by Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt to support the amazing women in our lives battling breast cancer, is only 12 days away.

I am so thankful to Pat at Life in the Scrapatch for her quick responses to my questions and for her support.  She is a wonderful cheerleader for this hop!  I encourage you to visit her blog today. She has a giveaway for anyone entering the Tree Bird Blog Hop (more info below.)  You can check it out the giveaway HERE.

Tree Bird is the newest blog hop announced at Sew We Quilt.  To learn more about it or to sign up, please CLICK HERE to visit the sign up page.  The cheerleader will be Lana from It Seams to be Sew. (The link I shared to her blog will take you to her Tammy 4 All Seasons Blog Hop post. Her bag was showcased on Sew We Quilt for the Wow of the Day yesteday.)

I know, the last thing I need is another project on my plate.  I spent the whole week telling myself I was not going to sign up.  Really, I did. Honest! But every time I visited the Beautiful Birds fabric line at Elizabeth's Studio and designed by Tracy Lizotte, I fell a little more in love with these beautiful fabrics.

I do not splurge on fabrics like this very often, but I ordered some on-line this morning and signed up for this blog hop. It is going to be so much fun!  I have a couple of ideas brewing already that could make lovely Christmas gifts.  (Do you like the way I worked that goal into my excuse to sign up?!)

Thanks for stopping by!
Renee