Pass the Peacock...going...going...gone

I finished my work on Andrea's peacock block, and since there were already two peacocks on this block, I decided to bead a copper feather and filled it with a peacock colored Czech glass button surrounded by emerald green glass seed beads.Outside of the seed beads are vintage AB Black flat backed beads. Doing it in a solid copper color really helped it stand out. One of the things I have noticed on much of the crazy quilting work I like is that there is a lot of color repetition and the rainbow colored stuff we all love to do is balanced by the strength of a single neutral.
In addition to the fan, I also added the fan with beads and ribbons, and the vine done with very velvet and Kreinik 16 twisted around it. The varigated ribbon is just lazy daisied.
On my last visit to Chicago I picked up the beautiful roses that are underneath the ribboned peacock. They are painted metal and add a nice transition from Cathy's peacock to my work. In the first picture (which shows the entire block) you see Cathy's work in the upper left hand corner and Susans work (peacock and tulips) in the lower left hand corner. The second picture is of the work I did.
Only one more peacock to go in this RR..the time has gone by fast!

Finding the Needle in the Haystack: Storing Trims

When I first started crazy quilting I thought I had the perfect arrangement for trims. I stored them, as you see them in the first photo, in map drawers. One for ribbons, one for lace, one for trims, and one for knitting type threads. One of the things I've learned in storing anything is that if you don't see it you probably won't use it. So I couldn't really see everything well, and spent a lot of time going through the pile to find what I needed. Then came the plastic pegs, which were great for storing ribbons, so they came out of the drawer and are stored by color on the plastic pegs. While I was at one of the large quilt shows I saw lace being stored on large spools and found these at a local antique store for 50 cents each and bought a few more through ebay. The lace is wound around the bobbin and secured with a pin. I was surprised to see how much lace each of these would hold. But perhaps my favorite storage for trims is the cheapest. I went to my local quilt store and got some of the cardboard inserts they wrap fabric around. I put aside one insert for each color of trim and proceeded to wind them onto the insert and secure with a pin. I still have a few of the short pieces of trims in a map drawer, but most of my ribbons are now easy to see and access, and are stored inexpensively. I'm now ready for more rummage sales!

Review: Di van Niekerk DVD Volume 1

I was browsing through Amazon.com and ran across a DVD by Di van Niekerk called" a One on One Workshop for Ribbon Embroidery and Stumpwork". I was curious and ordered it,hoping to venture into Stumpwork, which I have not done too much of, and to improve my ribbonwork skills and repetoire.
There are a total of three DVD's in this series, of which two are available through Amazon.com at this time. I am assuming the third will be released sometime soon. Volume one of the series has about 2 1/2 hours of material and covers demonstrations on how to complete 4 of the the 12 panels on the sampler piece. It begins with silk ribbon lavender and moves into stumpwork Hydrangeas made on a slip in the first panel. In addition, there are also pieces like the seeds and birds that are embroidered with cotton and silk threads.
You can send away for a free black and white copy of the pattern and a listing of threads used, or if like me, you prefer to have a color transfer on which to do your work, you can send for it through their website, which is what I did. The pattern is nicely copied onto hardanger cloth and for me, was worth purchasing. Her color chart is geared towards using her ribbons and threads, so having the color pattern helped me a lot in color selection. Since postage from South Africa is a little pricey, I elected to buy my threads and ribbons stateside, but found that Di uses a lot of 2mm variegated ribbons that aren't too readily available here. I am tempted to dye my own at this point, but have found some pretty 2mm ones at Evening Star Designs and was pleased with how they looked, so they are what I am using.
The CD is well done, with many timely stopping points so that you can watch and stitch at the same time. Di has several stitching demos up on you tube that give you an idea of her teaching style.
I won't be getting to this right away since I have several other pressing projects, but I am pleased with the DVD and design and just ordered CD #2. I'll keep you all posted with my steps along the way.

Playing again with Pass the Peacock

I am now on the third block of the Pass the Peacock RR. Here are some close ups of Cathy's work which is the ribbon peacock with seqins and the seam treatments in the adjoining areas. Susan work, also pictured, was an embroidered a peacock with some gorgeous metallic threads. She also did the seam treatments surrounding the peacock. So it looks like I am going to take my work right up the middle. And it's going to be beaded...stay tuned for more.

Take it Further: TIF challenge for May

Yes, I am woefully behind here as I am with everything right now. The "spring fever" I've been experiencing with multiple low pressure systems, pollens, molds, etc. took me out of commission for a while. Thank God for Benadryl...I can now open my eyes without having them burn!
I haven't given up the fight to get caught up with TIF. I've worked some on my eyeglass case from March and have come up with a plan of attack for May's challenge. When I visited the Far East, I became very drawn to the Indian god Ganesh. You can see his statue at many children;s schools and institutes of higher learning. I found this beautiful hand carved wood piece to send home as a wonderful memory of a great trip. He is the god associated with education and learning, and so he will be a part of who I am as an artist, which is a lifelong learner. He has four arms, and I plan on expressing myself as an artist by putting a needle in one of his hands, a thread in another, a paintbrush in another, and a string of beads in the last hand ( or other similar representations of the media I use in my work). I am a dabbler in art, and the multiple mediums he will hold in his hands should express that. I haven't decided whether or not this will be strictly and Embroidery piece, or whether I will do a fusible Ganesh and then embellish him.
My plan of attach for TIF is to finish the eyeglass case within the next few days, and then move on to Mays challenge. This leaves Aprils Challenge to do as a catch-up for next month. I think I can get this done and get back on track. I know I'll have fun trying!

100th post celebration:free drawing

It's hard to believe I will hit 100 blog entries this week. I am thoroughly enjoying this. I have met some wonderful people over the past six months, and I have to thank you all for helping to give me the motivation to keep writing and to keep sharing. The pictures above probably look familiar to many of you. My first block of the peacock quilt is shown as well as the 4 patch posey quilt. Since so many of you seemed to enjoy these two pieces, I am going to give away both crazy quilting and a sane quilting goodies to celebrate my blog.
For the CQ and peacock lovers, I have just put together a squishie that includes almost all of the items I used to make this 14 inch peacock square pictured above. That includes the fabrics, the trims, the motifs, the beads, the sequins, the real Swarovski crystals and the threads. It is a pretty amazing amount of stuff for just one block. And I will be drawing a name to win this squishie on May 15th.
For the sane quilters or lovers of the posey 4 patch, I am going to be giving away one brand new and unused Posey 4 Patch pattern that covers how to make the basic posey 4 patch without the extra borders etc that comes in the Posey Supreme pattern. Drawing will be on May 15th as well.
If you are interested participating in the drawings, please choose the one you would like to participate in and leave me a message here so I can add your name to the hat. I will also take international participants sincea good 40 per cent of my crazy quilting audience live outside the USA. I will continue to do these drawings after every 100 posts as long as I am getting enough interest,

Pass the Peacock is finally passing....

My eyes teared up a lot over this one. Not because it's bad, not because it's good, but because my darn allergies were causing my eyes to burn. So I am happy to have completed this now.
I embroidered a peacock that Carol shared with me and used varigated silk perle for the tail feathers, buttonhole twist for the french knots in the body, and the stem stitch for the outline. I topped it all off with pink translucent sequins in the middle of each feather. I hand painted the lace motifs and placed them in the shape of a peacock tail, adding pearls and a button. I also added the couched ribbon lattice with SRE above the peacock. The colors in this piece really say "spring peacock" and it was a nice palette to work in. We are now halfway through this round robin, with two more months to go. I can't wait to see the next one.

More eye Candy from Chicago Quilt Show

I must admit that I still have a sensory overload from the quilt show last week. So much beautiful color and pattern. Take these items for example. The guitar is just one enlarged section of the mosaic quilt below. The way the quilt artist obtained the feeling of the mosaic with fabrics is brilliant. The little journal quilt below was so sweet and the kind of thing I like to play with. This show really motivated me to get my paintsticks
back out again along with my rubber stamps and PFD fabric and create some beautiful hand paint fabrics. It is a wonderful spring summer thing to do and let dry outside!

Take it Further: April

As soon as I put the final flourishes on my Pass it on Peacock, I will get back to doing my Take it Further Challenge and getting caught up with March and April. I have decided that I am going to portray change by using the negative/positive designs of related two color fabrics to tell my story. I have a series of blue and whites I intend to use for this. I would like to do something circular or at least partially circular since I see change on a continium rather than on a straight line. I am still running a little behind with all the new projects I've taken on, but I just will have to do them in deadline order, which does take the fun out of it a little.
I still have some pics I will be sharing from the Quilt Show, as well as my Pass On Peacock to show and I will be giving a review of Di van Nierkerks One on One Workshop DVD Volume 1, so I plan to have a lot to say over the next week.

International Quilt Show-Crazy Quilting Winners

The three pics above were taken at the Chicago International Quilt Festival. There weren't many crazy quilts, but the ones that were entered were just grand.The first one

 is a close up picture of a section on Debra Spincic's crazy quilt. Each block on this quilt was offset by a beautiful silk, with a wonderfully vintage but contemporary feel. The last two pics are close ups of sections on several pieces done by Linda Steele. The embroidered scene was absolutely magnificent! Don't forget to click on the image to get a detailed look at these. 

There were several vendors that had a wonderful variety of crazy quilt products. Helen Gibb was there with her ribbons, and the beautiful Sara's Bloom lace dyes as well as motifs made up another booth. There were sellers of buttons, trims, and all kinds of embellishments. Sandy Jenkins from Texas was showing off her crazy quilting block of the month kits.
I also took a class called the Bag Lady class where there were little mini workshops on making purses. One of the workshops demonstrated using large craft ribbons to make up flowers. There were some wonderful effects with all the different types of ribbon.
I am eager to try out many of the new things I picked up at the show.