I did a thing

A Very silly thing

It could be the mess that is still outside my window throwing off my groove.

and the studio that continues not to be built 

because the yard hAs to be clEaned up fiRst    -.-

So It started as a standard boring straw hat,                             that I have had in the closet for decades and haven't worn in at least that long. Why do I keep things like this?

I don't know, may as well ask why I bought knitting needles, I never use them either!

I wanted a wicker witch hat so I bought another straw hat and disassembled it.

Then spent two days re rolling it into the aesthetically pleasing rumpled witches conical hat you see complete with rolling pointy tip.

But it looked lonely and barren, so I added some flowers and foliage and a couple of beaded bees

Which looked good bUUt................

...........................it needed more cowbell.

hence the geese.

they came in a package of 3, so

I had to use all three right?

One day I will be a real faerie godmother and now I have the hat!

I need to start thinking about wings........................

Candytuft fairy finished

Flower spray with added bling

Remember when I said

"that bit should stay relatively unadorned" ?

 I thought about it 

and I thought it needed some more bling

before

and a bird 

After

I also asked Cathy Kezerian what she thought about it.

Her advice was the web needed to look like it attached to something,          not just hang in the air. 

so I extended the yellow flower spray from the other side of the spider

Added white iridescent sequins to the green trim

Which makes it look less like that nasty fake easter candy people used to use for decorating cake when I was a kid

You know, the spongy stuff that's "edible" but tastes like disappointment

Added clear iridescent sequins and white beads to the white seam treatment

I originally made an embroidered bird for this spot but it ended up being too big,  which made room to gave this little fellow a home

It's made with bullion's and 2 kinds of tubular net ribbon for the wings head and tail

This added just enough to make it more but not too much

It just goes to show when your are unsure, ask 

Candy Tuft Fairie

Isn't she fun!?!

OK I know a big shiny spider is not what most people call fun

 bUt

Shes so pretty!

I'm still working out this corner of the block

so It's not entirely done, done yet

Though in the whole scheme of the block it may not need more

Like I said I don't know yet

Maybe that bit should stay relatively unadorned

to give the eye somewhere to rest

The more I look at it the more I like that Idea

I just know I need to think about it for a bit

The yellow SRE flower spray came out nice 

And this bush of Orange flower beads

I added a few Bees

and one who went visiting our girl

Everette Quilt show #2

All 3 faeries

So, I entered this show

Nice to see people stopping and examining my work!


Sorry the pictures are so blurry but I only had my cell phone and people kept bumping me.

Ladies of elegance

Here are my entries3 faerie wall hangings



and a full quilt I called "ladies of elegance" 

Faeries en rouge

By the time I got there all the ribbons except the viewers choice had been given out.


Alas not for me!


I had been warned by others that judges don't receive crazy quilts well for a variety of reasons,
none of which seem to be consistent across all shows.

which is unfortunate because they sometimes will discount crazy quilts entirely, because many of them have no batting or "real quilting"

 Faeries en violette

Faeries en lavande

Even though I did use my long arm to quilt them in the ditch around each panel

Mine were the only crazy quilts there

The best category I had to enter into was  "mixed technique" They had a "hand quilting" and "Hand pieced" selection but not a "hand work" selection.

I was ready for the disappointment, though

because every one wants to win right?

Yes they also switched the signs, but whatever

Still fun to see my quilts on the wall with official signs on them.

Another elderberry faerie

I think this is one of my favorite of Cicely Mary barkers faeries.


The berries just lend themselves to be embellished deeply with beads.

as you can see I've been here before.

She was the first faerie I did when I started this project in 2013(!)

It's fitting she should be one of the last.

I will be interested to see how I have improved since I last saw her.

The last faerie

 The last in a long line of faerie blocks,
20 in total, Is done!

Wheee!               Awwe!

Wee, because I love these fairies

 I grew up with a whole set of little flower farie books illustrated, beautifully, by Cicely Mary Barker

Abc faeries, summer faeries, tree faeries etc. 10 little books in all all lovingly kept a little dinged on the corners or lovingly rubbed but mostly still pristine.

Then I gave them to my children

and most of them went missing

Many of my, lovingly kept, childhood friends met their demise in this manner *sigh*

I had a whole collection of Asterix and Obilex and Tintin Illustrated novels ( don't you dare call them comix!) that died a horrible death at the loving hands of my children when the glue that kept them together gave way. my son still has them or whats left of them in a box to keep the pages from flying away and dispersing further.


As a former Librarian this both horrifies and warms the heart.

Thank goodness I saved my first edition set of OZ and Bookhouse books safe.

Though my "Friend Flika" got passed around every friend they ever had, until it was so bent, dogeared and missing pages you couldn't read it anymore.

You see they loved them enough to share them and that is friendship

and back to CQ

 I decided to finish the faerie blocks as wall hangings in groups of 4














 I used batting to pad the panels and sewed ribbon between the blocks to frame each one.




You've seen them all before but now they are all cleaned up nice














A simple hankie hem for the backing




so it won't show on the front, much.






 I've finished 3 so far and have 5 panels left







but they are not all matchy-matchy enough to pull together in one piece
                              

   and one isn't done yet





 so I don't know what I'll do with them.



A two piece wall hanging and three singles? 


Fit them to box tops?

A book?                                                     I dOn't knOw!

Fairies en Rouge

so, I just finished putting together 4 of my blocks from the last year, or so.




 Do you know how hard it is to catch a fairie?



 and then they just giggle at you

 and toss rosehips at your head, when you try to sew them together.

             Cheeky!

CQJP December

Its for December but she is the may queen in disguise

With lovely little white flowers coming up between the crunchy leaves


                     and another little bird

A dragonfly is out harassing a hedgie just up from her burrow


I don't know about you but I have snails.

 TMI?




The roses are out of season but who cares,

                   its a crazy quilt!





Also,
 trying my hand here at some art neuvo swirly things

I think it came out OK

Its all stem stitch and padded satin



Here she is in all her glory!


The may queen, Lily of the valley