March cqjp

Still catching up.



I may "catch up " all the way through June or august,

since may is going to be busy and my youngest ddd comes to visit through august




then my son is coming to live with us in september.


I may have not much in the way of sewing time.

I used buttonhole stitch this time.



I "colored in" the fan and added flower beads and  tassle.

 I folded the green gingham ribbon below it and used yellow beads to tac it down,

a beaded bug holds down the lower right hand corner.


 I sewed white sre daisies over the left hand corners up and down buttonhole which I left plain

CQJP February

catching up on the Cqjp, at least bare with me while i try

I thought id give you a quick overview of the blocks first then get into details

so first layer is the nekked block

then your first layer of stitches, since I'm also using my blocks for the BJP and joyful embellishments each block is going to have a stitch theme.

he theme here is herringbone stitch for the base

Herringbone is a very versatile stitch that you can do all sorts of fun stuff with

here I finished it with beads and lazy daisies


then sequins and faux seed pearls

the butterfly is for the BJP and is fully beaded on felt to give it a bit more dimention

the motif here is stem stitch, leaf and flower beads

I finished this one with larger beads and lazy daisy


here the herringbone is large and small inverted with beads and lazy daisy

there are 2 other herringbone I left unfinished more for effect 

CQJP January block

 OK
               SO,
           

If you hadn't noticed I'm a little late
on this block

                 but thats ok,

I can catch up
                                   Really,

I have a plan..........

 you may have noticed a theme on this block,
                                no?



 then I'll let you in on a little secret,

 the stitches are all the same
 thats right no foolin!

i used feather stitch for each and every one!

variations of it, just to make it more interesting but feather stitch none the less


I plan to follow that strategy for all my blocks this year, so we'll see how that works out.

First I have to catch up!

Skelly is done!

 When I finish a project like this its always a relief.

after months of slogging through the design phase,
the picking and choosing phase,
the initial sewing and blocking phase, the "oh my god, I'm stuck!" phase,

the going in another direction phase, followed by more design, picking and choosing, sewing and blocking....


more "oh my god, I'm stuck!"
then the final inspiration, that gets you unstuck and across the finish line .

 phew!

by that time you are either sick to death of the final piece,

 or it has grown on you,
like moss.





it's a part of you now. Indelible.



I always have trouble with the next phase.



the taking pictures phase.




how many do you take?





at what angle?

close ups?










how close up?




 Indoors or out?




how much detail?



 Natural light or flash?




do I examine every part of the piece?






 Do I go through every little nuance







how throughly?



in the end I take a lot of pictures.


 I don't usually show them all at once like this





I pick the best ones and showcase them

I try not to go overboard

but sometimes it's nice to see a persons process in these things.

it helps us make our own Phases easier to deal with.


More comprehensible.



you can see the progress here, here and here