COH #1

Oh my!!!My first heart made for the Chain of Hearts group. It was so much fun. I used my very own hand dyed fabrics for this heart. The silk ribbon embroidery was my very first attempt at SRE. I done French knots for the little flowers and done the spider web rose for the larger ones. The double feather stitch was my first time of doing that. I outlined the heart with a checkered chain stitch. It's where you use two different color threads in the same needle and alternate the chain stitch. I done my first couching too. I used 4 mm silk ribbon and then used Pearle cotton to couch it with. The dragonfly is an iron on. I thought he was really colorful. I am really pleased with how my first heart turned out. I want to post this on the COH saying its available for swapping but I feel I need to get several more done before I do that. So, if I can calm myself down and get busy doing some more I can get ready for the swapping to begin. Although a part of me don't want to part with my first heart. (G)

TAST Feather Stitch

I done a little reconstruction on this block. I wasn't happy with the print that was in the middle here, so I applique this flower print on top of it. I done my feather stitch with 4mm SRE. My first time at this stitch and using silk ribbon.

TAST Open Cretan

This green was a yellow green , so I chose to use one of the split complimentary colors which was red.

TAST Chevron

This green was a spring green so I used a Fuchsia color of DMC floss. 3 strands.

TAST Alegerian Eye Stitch

Here is this weeks TAST stitch. I used YLI art silk that my good friend Judyth sent to me. I used 6 strands. Keeping with my color study since it was a green background the compliment of green is Magenta,(using the Ives color wheel) so this silk just happened to be that color. It goes nicely with the flowers on the background too. This was so much fun. This is the first time for me to do a seam treatment. I finally stepped out of my comfort zone and went for it. Now I plan on catching up and putting the past weeks stitches on this block. This block is from the pics below that my quilt guild made for me. I have only made one CQ block, and that block is still not embellished yet. LOL That reminds me, in March I am taking Susan Brittingham's To Bead or Not to Bead class. Can't wait! I have never beaded before so this will be great for my CQ blocks.

New TAST Projects

These CQ blocks were given to me by my friends in my local quilt group in the year of 2001. At the beginning of the year every person put on a piece of paper what kind of block they would like done for them and when they drew your name for that month every member would make whatever block you suggested. I wanted Crazy Quilt blocks. They were suppose to be 12 1/2" blocks. I got various sizes and some had seam treatments and there were some that were naked blocks. So I am going to start doing my TAST on them each week. Isn't it strange how we can get things and put them in a drawer and then forget about them. Well, I am fixing to get busy. I have plenty to keep me busy for a while.

These blocks have more embellishments than the others.

These blocks have some seam treatments but needs more embellishing.

Coloring & Embroidery Block

I used Crayola Crayons to color this block and then heat set with an iron, then embellish with embroidery stitches. The pink and blue of the dress is done with a chain stitch. The butterfly is done with a stem stitch and her bonnet is done in a reverse blanket stitch. I still have some more embroidery to do to have her finished. Also some beads to be added to her bonnet. I think when I get her finished I am going to put her into a crazy quilt block.

Carol Miller's Creative Color Class

Wow! What a learning experience this has been. In our first lesson we were to make a color wheel with primaries, tints, shades, and tones. Talk about having to dig through my stash. I used Joen Wolfrom 3 in 1 color tool, picked out my fabric that had as close to pure colors for my primaries. Then shades, then tones. I had to go through my stash completely to find all the colors I needed. There are some silk fabrics in here, I was so glad I was able to come up with all I needed. If you are not familiar with color ,a tint is your pure color with white added to it. A shade is your pure color with black added to it. A tone is your pure color with grey added to it. This is a fantastic class for me in learning more about color. I was able to use some of my hand dye fabric too. But not all cause a lot of them were colors not on this color wheel. I started with yellow, yellow green, green, blue green, blue, blue violet, violet, red violet, purple, red, orange, and yellow orange. Once I get my fabric dyed like I am wanting to do, I will be able to do a complete color wheel using all hand dyes. Can't wait. Will post as soon as I get them done. When I get those done then my color wheel will consist of yellow, chartreuse, yellow green, spring green green, blue green, aqua green, aqua blue, turquoise, cerulean blue, blue, blue violet, violet, red violet, purple, fuchsia, magenta, blue red, red, orange red, orange, yellow orange, orange yellow and golden yellow. There will be some work in getting this one done.

Fun Day of Dyeing

This is my gradation using 12 Light Red. I love these colors. This is the color I used for my swap in the Dyehard RunOff group. We choose colors to gradate then will send 2 1/2" squares with all the info and swap out, then we all get different colors and directions and if we want to reproduce the color then we have all the info we need to do that. This is my first swap and I can't wait to get mine back. This is going to be so much fun.

This the color wheel I done in Marjie McWilliams Cotton Dyeing Basics. My blue green didn't mottle very well. I am so glad I took this class.

I done this black gradation using Jet Black. I wished I would have carried it down 2 or 3 more steps to get a lighter gray.