Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Cream on cream crazy quilt blocks.
I have been working on culling my stash in the nicest possible way. I had a large box of white, ivory, cream and antique cream coloured fabrics and another large box of antique lace pieces which have been gleaned from old garments, antique shops, eBay purchases and some that have been given to me. It seemed a shame to have them all squashed up together in a box so I am going to make a quilt for our queen size bed. My husband measured out the blocks and decided that I need to have twelve rows of eight blocks - that's ninety-six?? so far, I've completed ten! I should mention that any fabric pieces which appear to be a greyish colour or have what appear to be black threads running through them are in fact cream and threads are metallic gold. I will also do a tiny bit of gold metallic embroidery to liven up some of the blocks. At the moment, I'm not doing any embellishment or embroidery but I'm collecting cream coloured threads including two wooden reels of 1920s Pearsall's rayon embroidery thread. Here are the first four blocks using my favourite pieces of antique lace.
Lily's crazy quilted Monet's Garden with Lily Pond
I worked with a girl called Lily who wanted a special wallhanging based on my ATC size purses. She wanted abstract yet she also wanted it to look like a garden with a Lily pond so I pieced nine ATC size blocks and joined them together haphazardly. It is only by looking at my photos on Flickr and on this blog that I have been able to enjoy the lovely jewel colours, as in real life it looks like a jumbled mess of colour. I have just started to work some embroidered embellishments on the lily pond but I will scan it again once it is finished. Lily intends to put a large mount around the garden and then frame it.
To see the large version of this photo, put this link into your search engine.
http://photos23.flickr.com/28876212_92eedaa013_b.jpg
To see the large version of this photo, put this link into your search engine.
http://photos23.flickr.com/28876212_92eedaa013_b.jpg
Opal and Bornite (Peacock Ore) ATCs
These are my favourite two ATCs from my gemstone collection. Bearing in mind that these are only 3 1/2 inches x 2 1/2 inches, there is a lot of tizzy glitz on each one. The Opal one which is my very favourite is just covered in black sparkle which once again has been killed off by the scanner, and includes six little real Opals which have been created by sandwiching a thin slice of opal between a backing and a resin "bubble", however they were perfect for my ATC. I was thinking "Mardi Gras" colours while I was working on this.
To see the large size photo, enter this link into your search engine.
http://photos21.flickr.com/28872880_551ed319f5_o.jpg
This ATC just MIGHT finish up with my good friend Linda from Chloe's Place if she is very, very good and grovels and begs nicely. My starting point for this ATC was the gold fan charm which adapted beautifully into the Peacock's tail. I used only Peacock colours on this ATC which represents Bornite and needless to say, I had heaps of fun, always with Linda on my mind!!
To see the large size photo, enter this link into your search engine.
http://photos21.flickr.com/28872880_551ed319f5_o.jpg
This ATC just MIGHT finish up with my good friend Linda from Chloe's Place if she is very, very good and grovels and begs nicely. My starting point for this ATC was the gold fan charm which adapted beautifully into the Peacock's tail. I used only Peacock colours on this ATC which represents Bornite and needless to say, I had heaps of fun, always with Linda on my mind!!
Gemstone ATCs
I have been working on more ATCs based on the colours of Australian Gemstones, similar to my one featured way back on Feb 12th which represented Copper. This first one represents the gorgeous soft minty greens of Malachite. I was lucky to find a broken necklace at the local St Vinnie's op shop which was exactly the right colour and that became my starting point.
The second ATC is totally glittery gold. Unfortunately, the scanner "killed" the sparkle but makes it easier to see the stitching and embellishments. I needed to bring in the black fabric and spider's web to make a contract between all the glitz!
This is the third one based on Argyle Diamonds which come in White, Champagne, Cognac and Pink. Once again, this ATC is really sparkly and features lots of diamantes and sparkle. The two champagne coloured flower centres and the white circular "diamond" in the centre were earrings, once again from St Vincent de Paul's op shop. I paid $5 a pair for them and when I got home I noticed that they were still on their original cards and had been priced at $47.95 pair.....bonus!!
This is a very gentle ATC representing Amethyst. My five year old grand-daughter brought me the plastic butterfly and two little flowers from her own bead box and suggested that I sew them in the very centre......so I did! I loved her input and interest so I might make her a little purse out of the ATC.
The second ATC is totally glittery gold. Unfortunately, the scanner "killed" the sparkle but makes it easier to see the stitching and embellishments. I needed to bring in the black fabric and spider's web to make a contract between all the glitz!
This is the third one based on Argyle Diamonds which come in White, Champagne, Cognac and Pink. Once again, this ATC is really sparkly and features lots of diamantes and sparkle. The two champagne coloured flower centres and the white circular "diamond" in the centre were earrings, once again from St Vincent de Paul's op shop. I paid $5 a pair for them and when I got home I noticed that they were still on their original cards and had been priced at $47.95 pair.....bonus!!
This is a very gentle ATC representing Amethyst. My five year old grand-daughter brought me the plastic butterfly and two little flowers from her own bead box and suggested that I sew them in the very centre......so I did! I loved her input and interest so I might make her a little purse out of the ATC.