This blog should be called "The Adventures of a Fabric Junkie!". I am passionate about fabric, threads, colours and textures. I can record my crazy quilting, sane quilting, embroidery and everything else that I consider important in my life.

Photo shows my block for the Hurricane Katrina fund-raising quilt "All That Jazz".

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Stripes block 16 completed

Well, this was a quick and easy block, started and finished in three days.  Once that central piece with the striped ivory satin and fawn velvet was embroidered in both stitches in cream which I had never done before and fawn stitches which were my favourites, the rest came easily. I wanted to get rid of some of the angles of the striped patch so covered some of the seams with heavy lace motifs, the bottom edges though were left straight.  The block was easy until I got to the last seam - the one at the bottom left. DH and I tried about a dozen braids and laces but nothing seemed to be right so in the end, I stitched the braid, embroidered some of it to match the striped block and added cream ribbon roses.  Not perfect but better than a lot of the others.  I am beginning to realise that this quilt is a reflection of my life.  Every stitch, lace, button, braid, trim is something that I have learnt, collected or gleaned along the way. From now on, each block will have a theme, albeit a mental one - people in my family, childhood holidays by the beach, picnics in the forests with my parents and younger sister, picking wildflowers, school friends and favourite teachers, piano lessons, my Grandma and her Scottish heritage, my children and grandchildren, my sister's children and grandchildren, my lovely Mum and her love of sewing......so many influences that have shaped me into the person that I am today.  At first, the blocks in this quilt were merely that, blocks worked in cream laces and threads on cream fabrics but as they have grown in number they are taking on personalities and identities of their own. Anyway, this is number 16 or the block that completes 1/6 of the quilt.  I laid them out on the table in no particular order to see how they are going to look when sewn together.  I was surprised at how many darker creams I have used to form the contrast in colour without even realising that I was doing it.

3 comments:

Rose Anne B said...

OMGG I just can't believe that you've completed 16 blocks already, it seems like you just started this project!!! They are all so lovely and exquisite in their own being and glad they are each taking on a personality that means so much to you!!!

BUT are you sure you'll have enough CQing embellishments/laces to do another 80 blocks? From the looks of these 16 you need LOTSA STUFF yet!!!

I am avidly following this quilts progress and sure take my hat off to you and your awesome creativity and patience! Way to go Vivienne!

Susie Wolfe said...

Your block is exquisite as usual. I do so enjoy watching your work come together. When I look at the entire quilt so far, I see a progression of your skills and you are right ..... more contrast in the blocks. You do a marvelous job with the contrast yet staying within the cream on cream theme. Just brilliant!
SusieW

pineapple_ing said...

Oh my goodness Vivienne, 16 blocks and it is only one/6th complete!? Susie & RA already said what I would have said too: Exquisite, Creative, Marvelous, Brilliant!.. So here are just a few more.. Fantastic and Beautiful!! It seemed to me like you stitched these blocks up one per week, in other words, so quickly!... Yet your embroidery stitches are so precise and neatly done! Here's another one for you... AMAZING! I wish I had your talent.
Sincerely, ~Ing in CA. USA