CQJP Progress & TAST Stitch

This is the Cabled Chain stitch which you can see on right. I'm using it as a basket handle. Or, you can interpret that motif as an ice cream come, whichever you wish. This is block 6 of my CQJP project, dedicated to my Mom's youngest sister, Peggy Ann, for whom I am named (the "Ann" part). Today, Peggy is the last of the eleven children in my Mom's family still living. Sadly, she does not communicate with the family. But she was a fixture on Wednesdays at the quilting bee/sewing circle/coffee klatch, so she has a block in the quilt.

Semi-Daily Detail: CQJP Block 6

Chain, detached chain and bullion

using some of the variegated perle cotton . LOVE the colors!

 Ready for my close up, Mr. Demille...

Tennessee Waltz

Years ago I made this quilt with the intention of having my aunts quilt it for me. However, before they could get around to it, or before I could get it finished, they moved out of the old neighborhood and no longer quilted. So it sat in a closet for years, until finally Debra got her long arm quilter and whipped it out for me one afternoon. :-)

Now it's hanging in my new office, and I think it looks super.

One UFO down, many more to go....

Daily Detail: CQJP Block 6

Perhaps I should retitle these posts "Every Other Daily Detail" ;-)

My tried and true, go-to vine & rosebuds - feather plus French knots. I love the texture.

Buttonhole wheels and laisy daisy.  Plus cretan stitch on the right. More embellishments needed. I'm doing the basic layer at this point.

Couldn't resist: on sale at Hobby Lobby:

Variegated perle cotton floss...

CQJP: June Block

Only a couple of weeks behind schedule, I'm just beginning my June CQJP block:

I'm off topic a little here but I've been doing some garment sewing recently. I saw this fabric at Fabric.com 

where I often shop. However, I think they've sold out.

I love this skirt pattern: New Look 6053. It takes me a couple of hours to stitch it up. I even lined this one with some wonderfully soft rayon I bought a few years ago when I thought I was going to hand dye fabric. That didn't last long, and I was stuck with about 4 yards of beautiful 100% rayon. I thought about making several white blouses or tanks but it worked beautifully as a lining.

I prefer skirts and tops to dresses. I'm so long-waisted that dresses are (1) hard to fit and (2) uncomfortable.

Here's the top I made (New Look 6735). This fabric is a very soft rayon knit blend, which I bought in white and pink. I never had much luck with knits so I practiced on a piece of knit fabric that I wasn't crazy about. I like the way this turned out although  the neckline is a little wider and lower than I normally like but it will work. Having a serger has made a big difference. Now I just need a coverstitch machine.

New Look patterns offer a lot of  easy, basic, versatile pieces. 

CQJP - May Reveal

It still isn't complete but I'll leave it here for now and revisit it later. I still see more and more possibilities every time I look at it.

I'm particularly pleased with the border around Mom's later photo. It's one of my favorites of her, actually both of them are.

Happy Father's Day to all Dads! We had a nice traditional Sunday breakfast with home made blueberry muffins. Now we're all just enjoying a beautiful sunny day. I plan to work on more garment sewing today and  hand work tonight in front of the telly.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Daily Detail: CQJP Block 3

Since I have a number of photos in my blocks, it's been challenging to come up with unique and appropriate ways to attach them to the quilt. I relied on lace and trims initially. Here I've used ricrac couched with a zig-zag chain, then added a fly stitch and laisy daisy on the outer edges. 

I love this photo of my Aunt Mae. She must have been very young here - in her 20's - because her hair turned gray at a very young age. She's quite attractive and was very intelligent. She never married and had a deep sense of duty to her family. 

Daily Detail: bullions and barred chain

Mom's picture, surrounded by barred chain with French knots and bullion roses - my first attempt!

Didn't realize those basting stitches were not well hidden so I'll have to deal with that.

Daily Detail: Chains, Cretans, and Bullions

Looking back at several blocks that needed just a little something else:

Three rows of zig-zag chain stitch

Bullion and chain. Below, cretan and straight stitch.

RIP Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury, 1920-2012

"I am a librarian. I discovered me in the library. I went to find me in the library. Before I fell in love with libraries, I was just a six-year-old boy. The library fueled all of my curiosities, from dinosaurs to ancient Egypt. When I graduated from high school in 1938, I began going to the library three nights a week. I did this every week for almost ten years and finally, in 1947, around the time I got married, I figured I was done. So I graduated from the library when I was twenty-seven. I discovered that the library is the real school."

Daily Detail: Slightly Late

Here I added a feather stitch stem, cretan stitch leaves and a few French knots. 

I've had issues with this space. I finally decided on this stem stitch vine with lazy daisy flowers (pay no attention to those French knots in the corner) which I found in Carol Samples book.

I hoped these daily posts would keep me motivated and on track. It's worked fairly well, although I've missed a couple of days.

Saturday is my day to do some garment sewing. With both girls at work, DH asleep, and the dogs at the groomer's, I had a quiet and productive day to sew, take a few breaks to check the Internet (you never know), and was able to go back and watch Season Two of "Walking Dead". In spite of the gore (which doesn't bother me since it's only make believe), it's (to me) such a good series. I can't wait for Season Three.

Of course I'm hopelessly addicted to zombie movies. I watched two last week, Rammbock: Berlin Undead and They Came Back (Les Revenants). I'd give them both about a "7" on the Zombie meter. "Berlin Undead" was pretty typical -- something (a virus probably) has turned mankind into flesh, moth foaming zombies, folks are trapped, try to get away -- and reminded me of the book I Am Legend it that it was very claustrophobic, all taking place in the confines of an apartment building for the most part.  (I Am Legend would be  a great movie if it followed the book more closely.) "They Came Back" was unusual in that the zombies were peaceful folks, inexplicably rising from their graves (13,000 in this one small town) to find their loved ones. The French did not get excited, they just formed a committee to decide what to do. Funniest line: "they are in excellent health". LOL.

I think tonight I will add more beads and embellishments to Block 5 and then get started on Block 7 tomorrow. I still reserve the right to return to previous blocks and enhance them! It's already June, can you believe it!

Please leave a comment! I love knowing who is out there!

Daily Detail - Bullion and Barred Chain

Barred chain and detached chain.

Vintage buttons create the center of a bullion flower detail.

Daily Detail - May CQJP

Embracing the bullion stitch:

I think I've conquered the bullion. I found it was much easier to do, and looks nicer (to me) using perl cotton . I also used a larger needle. In the bottom picture you can see my progress. They get better as yougo around the button. :-)

Daily Detail - May CQJP

It's coming along....

This is the weekly TAST stitch, knotted cretan although I only knotted half of it. :-) I couched a piece of blue/green ribbon, combined it with a detatched chain & added tiny buttons. It creates some nice texture.

The block is coming along, but I am a slow stitcher. Now I'm already into June and should be working on block number 6. 

Speaking of which, block 6 will take care of all my aunts who were part of the Wednesday quilting group. Then I get started on the middle part of the quilt, which I have some ideas about, and let's just say they are ambitious. It'll take a lot of discipline to follow through on that plan.

A lot of this was stitched while watching The Walking Dead. Anybody a fan? I thought the final episode of Season 2 was fantastic. I can't wait until October!

I'm happy to see that my little AAQI quilt (number 9587) is up to $90 and there are still several days to go. BID, BID, BID!

CQJP - Daily Detail

I was finally inspired, after receiving & pouring over Allie Aller's book,   with so many ideas for treating Mom's photo - this is what I wound up doing:

I love the vintage buttons here. This seems perfect to me, and I'm very happy with it.

Work on this block is going very slowly, not sure why. Allie's book really recharged my thought processes, though so I'm sure I will get a lot done this weekend...if I can stay off this computer!

Today is such a lovely day, very sunny but cool and breezy. I have the windows open, reminds me of home somehow. 

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Oh, and do stop by the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative June Auction to day - my quilt is up for auction - "For Aunt Mae".

Happy stitching!