2012 Quilt Finished in 2013

It’s been almost a year since I’ve blogged.  Pat Winter included photos of my quilt in her magazine but thought those of you who may not have purchased the issue would like to see the finished product.  It was a slow process but I kept up and now only have a few things left to correct on it when I take it down off the wall.  Isn’t it funny how you see things you don’t like when you finish something and they just niggle at your mind!? 

I’ll try to do better, but no promises.  I just hope you hang in there and check in from time to time.

Click on images to see larger size.

“Acquisitions” from Vintage Textile Show

Shirlee and I spent a few hours in Sturbridge MA at the Host Hotel yesterday. The show wasn’t as satisfying as it has been in the past because of the addition of so many costume jewelry booths, but I still had a nice time and came away with some things for my crazy quilts.

There is a piece of “motif” lace that I cut apart and am selling on my website to share with you.

It’s getting hard to find antique laces in quantity but it’s a fun pursuit and gives me an excuse to go antiquing. I more than hate any other type of shopping.

Below is my May Crazy Quilt Journal Project square.

CQJP – April Square

It’s so hard to believe that 2012 is almost 1/3 gone. I have so much more spare time than I used to and seem to be accomplishing less. I’m pushing myself to keep up with the CQJP as a personal challenge and am enjoying seeing all of the work others are adding each day. Be sure to take the time to enjoy some of the beautiful crazy quilting that’s being shared. There’s no end to the ideas and inspiration you will see. Here is my April square.

I found this vintage butterfly design on the internet. I thought you’d like to try it in your own colors.

CQ 2012 - Last Basket

CQ 2012 - I've started piecing

It's been so long since I've blogged about something I'm working on, I thought I'd show you this small portion of the pieceing for my quilt that I've finished. It's going to be a long process as I'm also working on other things. I want to have the bulk of the embellishment done for this quilt before I assemble the pieces onto a muslin backing. Two more of my baskets are in the current issue of CQ Magazine Online . Since I'm using the same color silk for all of my piecing I've decided to use black throughout to provide the main contrast. I'm also going to use a lot of the vintage items I've accumulated over the years.

CQ 2012 Basket

This basket took a little longer than the others but, again, I used only simple stitches. The basket is done using a sz 12 variegated perle cotton and the only stitches used were staight stitch and split stitch. I also used the same thread in green for the stems (split stitch) and the leaves (satin stitch.) The petals of the flowers are straight stitched from the outside of the petal into the center using 4mm varigated silk ribbon. The number of petals in each flower are more than actual lilacs have. Who cares!! They still look like lilacs. The only tips you need to know to do these are, keep the stitches loose and be prepared to use a lot of ribbon. I used 13 yards and you won't want to run out half way through. A pearl seed bead was used in each flower center. Two of my baskets for this quilt will be in the next issue of CQMagOnline.

CQ 2012 Basket

This is one of the five baskets I'm doing as the focal points for my 2012 CQ Challenge wall hanging. You can refer to the chart of the quilt that I posted here earlier this month to see where they will be going. All of the stitches for this basket are simple and consist of straight stitch, lazy daisy, a lot of French knots, padded satin stitch, split stitch, and outline stitch. All open areas were then topped with sz 11 and 15 seed beads. I added the bow to the handle as it needed something at the top when I finished the embroidery. I also added a mixture of small flowers to this vintage basket design from other vintage sources as the basket didn't look complete. You are welcomed to print a copy of the design. This will not be actual size so you can reduce or enlarge it on your computer.

CQ 2012 Challenge

I should have explained more about the chart I did for my wall hanging. The design is my own and the diamond shape* was cut from a 10" square piece of paper. Each diamond will have a basket of flowers if all goes as planned. The designs for the baskets are from vintage embroidery transfers. I made changes to them all as in some I loved the basket but not the flowers. I added more flowers, some bows, and various "stray" designs to help them fill in the diamonds fairly equally. I will be saving some of the designs to publish in the CQ Magazine. Eventually, the whole quilt will be here on my blog.

*To get this design, I folded the 10" square of paper into quarters and then once more into a triangle (like a snowflake you might have made as a child.) Here are drawings of how I cut it.

Crazy Quilt 2012 Challenge

I have joined in a challenge with several other crazy quilt enthusiasts on the Yahoo crazyquilting list to finish a large quilt by the year 2012. Instead of a bed quilt, I prefer a wall hanging. I have charted my quilt and have a photo of that chart below. I will be writing about portions of it on CQMagOnline as well as this blog, but the entire project will eventually be shown here. The wall hanging will be ~42"x43" not really large by some standards, but large for someone like me whose attention wanders. Wish me luck in sticking this out to the finish!!!