"sweets" for candy

I'm terribly late, but this is the last of the original Receiver's Choice blocks I designed and made for an exchange with the Sparkly Chickens Yahoo Group. This one is for Candy T., who decided to choose a theme as sweet as her nature and her first name ("Sweets"). Her favourite colours are pink & orange, so is it any wonder I included them in the piece?




Fused applique, bead embroidery, a few daubs/splashes of acrylic paint, hand embroidery and angelina fibres. The fabrics are a combination of batiks, hand dyes and a small pack of fossil ferns that had been gathering dust for years. The sky was made by dabbing on white perle acrylic paint and then letting it dry. The white sky looked a little too stark, so I added a layer of misty fuse, some pink angelina, covered it all with parchment paper and added heat with the iron to fuse it all together. Fast, easy and very effective!




Ice cream sunday mountain, sherbert hills, lollipop trees, a candyfloss sky and a cherry on top.... How perfect for my sweet little friend!



This block makes me smile!!! How about you?


The project is going on hold for a while! I'm still missing a couple of blocks in my own theme (botanical), so I think I'll wait for them to arrive before working on my own block. Stay tuned!!!

hot & cold - made by moi

Tada!

Two more original blocks to show for my Receiver's Choice swap over at the Sparkly Chickens Yahoo Group. They're very, very late, but certainly not forgotten! The first is for Liz who's chosen theme was "Fiesta". What the heck did I know about fiestas? I got the colourful part, but some of the well known images had already been used by other participants. I toyed with the idea of the image of a crisp white cotton skirt, complete with colourful embroidery and rickrack. Then I thought of those crepe paper flowers we used to make in high school. Rejected both ideas when I couldn't get my head around them laying flat on a 9 1/2" unfinished block (in my head, the skirt required movement and the flowers needed to be 3-D). I agonized and procrastinated until that brilliant light bulb moment when I realized that the sun was an integral part of the whole fiesta experience. How could I resist? After that the block worked up quite quickly. Fused applique, combined with free motion machine stitching and hand embroidery.





Working with Cheryl's "Winter" theme was a much cooler experience (if you pardon the pun). No angst, just pure pleasure!! I live in Canada and although this winter has been unusually gentle, it's quite easy to remember the effects of the cold. Naked trees are a favourite image of mine (to stitch, draw or photograph), so if one is good, then seven of them are even better! The technique I used for the trees involved free motion embroidery, using two colours of rayon thread (royal blue and purple) in the same needle. Yes, you CAN do this! The bonus is that you get a lovely blended stitch look, with only half the time and effort. To add to the icy image, I added fused spiky triangles of purple to the top and bottom of the block. A little more free motion stitching, some hand embroidery and the block was fini!




Only one block left to go!!! I've been mulling over Candy's "Sweets" concept and I think that I'm ready to take the first stitch!! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

receiver's choice update - sara's block

As many of you know, I've been working on a "Receiver's Choice" block exchange with my friends at the Sparkly Chickens Yahoo Group. This one is for Sara who's just about to escape from the toils of the classroom for a relaxing, creativity filled summer vacation. I thought that the image of the escaping kite, would be a particularly appropriate image. I envy Sara her extended time off (sigh!) and wish her sand in her toes, wind for her kite, a wonderful collection of shells, thread for her needles and an exciting and creative summer. Use your time wisely, it goes pretty fast!!

Sara's theme was the "Beach"!

Hand applique, hand embroidery, couching, commercial batiks and other fabrics.




Detail of the kite and the waves:





Detail of the driftwood, the couched Kite string and the waves:



Sorry, Sara! I was trying to convey the foam on top of the waves, with the white french knots!! Any shells on my beach would have been greyish and mixed up with the driftwood.

receiver's choice update

A couple more additions to my Receiver's Choice swap from the Sparkly Chickens Yahoo Group. My theme for this swap is "Botanicals".

The first one was sent to me by Liz, who chose to make a lovely Tree of Life with fused applique and teeny, tiny hand embroidered, blanket stitches surrounding each piece. She used a very fine thread for the stitches and her technique is flawless. I must find out what kind of thread she used, because I'm sure that I need to add some to my stash!!



Jean sent me the purty, pink tulip that's oh so appropriate for the damp, wet spring! The colour makes me very happy!! She used a raw edge, fused applique technique, and added machine zigzag to finish off the edges. It just "shows to go you", that you don't need complicated techniques to be effective! My apologies to Jean for not noticing the loose thread. I'll fix it the next time I pull out the camera.



Thanks to these two blocks, I know have an idea on how I want to finish the quilt. Of course, with six more block to go, my idea could change many times......keep tuned for more updates!!!