Filling in the flowers - CQJP 2024

It takes a long time to fill in one whole side to a 

20" x 16" ish elephant.

I added flowers to the cardinal corner

because he looked lonely floating over there all by his lonesome

Flower son the head

This is mostly the halfway point, where I always feel like it's awful and I have made a mess of it.

I have to keep reminding myself it will look different when it's stuffed

More flowers on the body

Lots of  silk ribbon roses made with 

Spiderweb, accordion, folded stitches

Also in there are white lilac in french knots

Fuchsias and a few random fantasy flowers

and lots and lots of leaves

Miss Mousie also got a couple of flowers

Finally this spiderweb 

Still not sure where it's occupant will go
 

Critter bom

Ribbet has no other pictures and neither do the next 3-4

I do like his green hide and blue belly

He also is as drawn out

I will try to do better but it's been a year so......

not everything is finished

I got side-tracked with the seasons applique quilt

I was sewing on these in the evening, during family time 

but that comes and goes, depending on what we are watching at the time

Critter bom

Next up is the Squirrel from last years Block of the month from Sue Spargo

He looks pretty much Like the pattern

I wussed out on this one but then I think I was tired

AAAANd hes done

I should have made his til fluffy at least....

I still may, it depends on what is left over 

from all the other  blocks
 

Critter Bom

 I got a Block of the month last year from Sue Spargo

It was a fun one!

Now if you have ever taken a class or gotten a BOM from her 

you know she doesn't like it if you share anything anywhere 

until the BOM is over,   

And since it's a year later, 

I'm going to start sharing!

< First up is Monsieur le Trash panda!

Now if you ask me, he looks NOTHing like the Raccoon pattern I was given, 

The raccoon pattern I was given looks nothing like a raccoon!

so I honestly fee like this one is all mine.

Go ahead fight me. I dare you.

I also decided that a bunch of the patterns look not like I think they should, 

So I will be "Fixing" them too.

CQJP 2024 Le Colibri

So here's where I start                                                                                                                                                                                             Make or find a sketch in a sketchbook, online,or other reference

Make little blue sketch on my target piece

And fill it in with stitches

I did underlay the dark teal wing part with a chain stitch 

initially to give it some definition and lift

To differentiate it from the rest of the wing

The dark color alone would do that but I wanted a little more

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Then I use 3-4 different colors of a graduated buttery yellow DMC                                                                                                                                                                                                     for the the wings, tail and body                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                And then magic!

The rest just follows                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Hello, my pretty, pretty!

CQJP 2024 Ellie Project

OK, SO.

I have sewn together the sides and top of my Ellie so when I get to the vines along the big seams I can just go do it and not worry where I'm going to connect them later.

I whent ahead and added my spiderweb roses

To the monogram

in a couple of places

all the way down

That blue stuff is the Water Soluble pen I use for marking 

It will come off with a quick spritz or two of water and maybe a bit of a rub

I have used these pens for close to 30 years now and 

have come to rely upon them, with out really ever worrying weather or not they have changed the formula or something, 

For me they just work.

I am sharing a bunch of my sketchbook pages today

I use my sketch books to keep track of my ideas and keep a record of my projects as I do them 

I want to show you all how I use them If blogger will cooperate with me today I might even manage to make it coherent!

CQJP Paris

I have colored somethings in when the mood moves me 

and darkened other bits with pen so I can trace them if I need to

These pages are from a prior CQJP For which I used Paris for my jumping off point and 

CQJP Paris

the colors pulled from the focus fabric I used that year were a magenta, pink, green, bright blue, yellow and purple

CQJP Fairy

I have many more ideas and inspiration pages scattered around the house and interwebs for perusing to catch an idea

I have a lot of books for reference and also for learning a new technique or just for the pictures

These pages are some of my oldest and 

I use the basic shapes from them all over the place

Rainbow Scrap challenge 2024-Red

 A slow start to the year but it is a start

CQJP 2024 AKA Mara's Ellie project

Miss Mouse has gotten her tail and a fine tail it is!

Next up is what to do with all the space around her?

The Darling Daughter who requested this Ellie, 

wants lots of flowers so lets do the foundations of that,

as a chain stitch vine meandering all over the side 

and part of the top.

And to do that I needed to sew the top and other side together.

This makes it a little harder to maneuver around and sew 

through but makes for  a more cohesive design.

And on the other foot, I have stitched a bird shape to make

A cardinal as requested

Most of the thread I will be using throughout will be DMC

so in this project expect that from here on 

unless otherwise noted

I will be using several shades of red for the body of the cardinal 

I'm going for a fade to dark

using a staggered satin stitch the whole way through

And here she is!

And since there has been some discussion on the CQI Divas 

page about working from sketches 

Here's the page of my sketchbook where this one came from

I have used her in the past many times 

for anyone who notices that's the sketch for the gardens 

round robin from 2014

Here'show I transfer some of my ideas

The paper is from the tail ends of clothing patterns

In some commercial clothing patterns you can get quite a 

large swath of blank paper that is ideal for embroidery transfer

I like using this as transfer because I can see through it

it doesn't distort my stitches, when I go to pull it out from 

under my stitching, if it hasn't already shredded from handling

And if you sew it into the piece you will never see it again

because it is such a light paper it will disappear or disintegrate

CQJP 2024 the start

Starting on this side I covered most seams                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        with a base layer of seam treatments using the same color thread, since we (I) want the motifs to stand out not the treatments                                                                                                                                      Then I go about and mark a few motifs                                                                                                        I use a clover blue water soluble pen as these marks come out easily from most fabrics                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        So far I've drawn out  her name and some vine and roses                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Which will be embroidered in a covered chain stitch for the lettering

And a stem and feather stitch for the vines and leaves

what Elephant doesn't need a mouse?

I use Felt for an underlament to give the satin stitch some depth                                                                                                                                                                                                        And layer it for more definition, here see the head tail and haunches

Here she is with just a little more to go                                                                                                                                                I used 3 colors of  gray to give it a little more depth                                                                                                                            Lightest on top, main body the med and dark for the bottom and a bit of shadow                                                                                                                                                                                She also has a size 8 seed bead for an eye

Rainbow Scrap challenge 2024-Green

 And so we enter into a new year and a new round of scrap basket clean up

This year I have chosen one block to put together

there may be more but I am fomenting other things in other areas and don't want to over extend my capabilities

ooh look at that, at almost 60 I'm thinking like a growdup!

How'd thAt happen?

And look at the birds! I finished the flimsy for 24 of the 66 bird blocks from the last years RSC 

It makes a respectable 42" x 62" flimsy

now she just needs a back

I pieced together the other 42 birds without borders

it makes a 46" x 53" flimsy

But I still think it needs a border

I am having a hard time finding one I like for it

I have two different feather fabrics which would have been perfect but I only have half a yard of each Of course.

So back to stash diving  *sigh*

The Christmas Ellie CQJP2024

 

right side

So! this was supposed to be done for christmas

It' about small pillow size..

Buuuut.......

Left side

Anyway, I have decided to make it my CQJP for 

this year or I'm never going to get it done!    

I just started on the base layer of Stitching   

Nothing too colorful this time

I think I'm going to stay in the grey scale for seams 

so the motifs when I get to them stand out

There has been a request for roses

I'm also thinking her name made fancy and flowery

A mouse somewhere, I will copy a few of the motifs I used

on my ellie since she wanted one after she saw it

and I will probably wing it from there

so far so good