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!!!

tradition with a twist

Sparkly Chicken Yahoo Group - Receiver's Choice Swap updates:

The first photo is my interpretation of Jacqui's request for a Bee &/or Bee Skep block. Crazy quilted onto an 8 1/2" cotton square and then hand and machine embroidered (but mostly hand). The bees are hand embroidered with silk ribbon and little bit of black floss. The skep image was hand drawn on TAP (Transfer Artists Paper) with Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pens (permanent india ink). Then I heat transferred the image onto off-white quilter's cotton, added an extra layer of the cotton, free motion stitched and then attached to the CQ square. Would you believe that I've had the TAP for around three years and this is the first time I actually used it? I do love the effect, so you will be seeing more of this type of image transfer in the future. Jacqui wanted a yellow/gold colour scheme for her block, but I just had to sneak in a little orange!!



A little closer look at the details:



This is Cheryl's interpretation of my own botanical theme. Isn't it lovely? Despite tomorrow's threat of snow, this block gives me hope that spring will actually arrive. Raw edge applique, using a machine blanket stitch. The wording is separate.