Cream on Cream crazy quilt block 3

This block contains some double frilled really antique lace which I hope doesn't disintegrate in a hurry plus a small circle of linen which came as part of a sheet of twenty circles, all hem-stitched around ready for crocheting an edge . I stitched an edging of vintage tatting and added the ribbon roses to cover the join in the tatting. This is the block which gave my husband and me such a puzzle when we came into the bedroom at night to see a row of tiny bright lights glowing on the bed. We turned on the lights and all that was on the bed was this unfinished block and some threads where I had been sewing earlier in the day. Turned out the lights again and there were the little shining lights again. I put my hand on the lights and discovered that I had embroidered a row of stitching on the block in GLOW-in-the-DARK Kreinik thread. What a laugh!! We cracked up laughing because it was so funny to think we had actually wondered what on earth the lights were....duh!! The Glow-in-the-DARK stitches are the Pistil stitches and French knots between the Chain stitched scallops above the two rows of frilled lace.

Cream on Cream block 3 auto-corrected

Funny how these blocks develop a mind of their own sometimes. I dithered about where to put a gold fan charm, the bottom left corner or the top right corner??? The block told me to scrap the fan, it was too heavy, too gold........so I finished up putting an organdie flower and old gold fern leaves at the bottom and God forbid - sea horses and seaweed at the top. I had no intention of putting seaweed and sea horses anywhere at all on the block and yet, I'm happy with the result.

Lola's Quillow finished on Christmas Eve

Thank God for Carols by Candlelight from the Myer Music Bowl as it is one of my favourite programs and also it kept me awake long enough to finish Lola's quillow in time for Christmas today. Lola is nearly five so I made her quilt from my scrap bag, using animal prints and colourful matching fabrics. Only one more to go now but Taylia is eleven and will understand that I am not Wonderwoman and hers will come in due course - besides she ordered an iPad Touch which Santa got - that girl knows her Nanna is a soft touch!!!

Close-Up of the quilt

Lola's quillow didn't really have a theme like the Dinasaurs and Construction Vehicles, it was more a fun quilt using up all my various animal patches and scraps of colourful fabrics that sort of co-ordinated with the animals.

Lola's Quillow

This is the pillow part of Lola's quillow. It is done in crazy quilting with colourful plastic buttons instead of the usual charms and beads.

Block 2 in Natural Colours

These are the true colours for block two, the floral block. The buttons on the antique collar are about as old as the collar, all mother-of-pearl and all unpicked from ancient shirts. The two crocheted flowers have three layers of petals plus two padded "buds" which are covered in rows of single crochet. The broderie anglaise piece at the bottom right is also very old as is the fawn lace in the centre of the block. This lace fascinates me as it is made in rows of different patterns so that it looks as if someone has painstakingly joined single rows of lace to make a fabric.......this was given to me by a neighbour of my parents - Mrs Tobin. She died about 28 years ago now but I will always remember her when I see this piece of machine made lace. The piece of lace fabric at the top left hand corner of the block with the matching lace edging is from my wedding dress from when I married DH........this quilt is turning into a memory quilt without me meaning to do it.

Second Cream on Cream Block Finished

This block is mainly flowers, seemed to want to be that way. Not all blocks need to have a theme but this one lent itself to be a "garden" block. It is more 3D than the previous one but that won't matter in the overall scheme of things, some will be flatter while others while others will have more texture - DH just commented that "boy, this quilt will be heavy when it's finished!!" It will, but all it will do is lie on a bed - not to be SAT on or LAID upon or SCRUNCHED up. He's got the message, I think.

First Finished block for Cream on Cream Crazy Quilt

This is the first block for the cream on cream crazy quilt which I am making to use up my collection of antique laces, threads, buttons and beads. It seemed a shame to keep all these wonderful pieces from the past hidden away in boxes, bags and plastic containers when they could be used to create a lovely quilt with no rhyme nor reason to the design except to use up these old bits and bobs. Altogether I will need 96 blocks so I will join them in pairs, then in fours and then eights, embroidering the joining seams as I go. Seeing as a lot of the embroidery will be done on the train going to and coming home from work (1/2 hour journey each way) plus in my half hour lunch break, the smaller the piece of background fabric, the better. I will blog two versions of the photo, one in the natural cream and ivory colours and one with the photo "auto-corrected" which throws shadows on the work and makes it easier to see properly.

The Pillow part of ths Quillow

I hope Beau approves of the 3D dinasaur........it is a bit scary!! The quilting doesn't show up in this photo but the dinasaur's body is stuffed using the Trapunto method of quilting and his eyes are covered in tiny, sparkly red sequins.

This is the quilt part of the quillow

The quilt is machine pieced then each Dinasaur has been hand-quilted around the edge.

Dinasaur Quillow

This is the second UFO that I have finished. It is a dinasaur quillow for Beau who is seven. Now I've only got the two girls to go and with three weeks to Christmas I think I will make. it.