CQJP 2014: July. Celebrate

Well, hello. Where have I been!? Can't seem to get to finishing any needlework or blogging lately.
I did finish my CQJP 2012 block for July and here it is.

The baby is my granddaughter born in July and now eleven years old. And the colors celebrate our country's birthday as well.

I'm half way through a year of blocks. I'm working now on June: rain forest. Motivate me to speed things up, someone.

Big Honkin Needle Circle finished

I've been working slowly lately, but have finished the circle part of my quilt from the Betty Pillsbury workshops.

 

 

 

I continued the pansy theme with a beaded pansy from a pattern in The Beaded Garden by Diane Fitzgerald, Interweave Press LLC, 2005. I also titled the block "Big Honkin' Needle" because that is Betty's term for the size chenille needle needed to work with chenille. It's a size 14. I used it for the chenille flower inside the heart on the left.

Betty is, besides a crazy quilter, a herbalist. During informal discussion at the workshop, cleavers was mentioned. It's an interesting plant that makes tea said to aid weight loss. I pulled out my Petersen's Guide to Edible Wild Plants and used the line drawing of cleavers there to add a picture of it to the block.

I added a third dragonfly; this one with woven picot wings and a couple of 7 mm silk ribbon pansies.

I plan to set this circle into an asymmetrical border, inspired by a couple of Betty's quilts she had on display during the workshops. I'm putting it aside for now, though. I'm feeling the pull of my Pink Flower Garden quilt UFO. It's a big one and I plan to work on it until I get bored, then take up my CQJP blocks again. Follow your bliss.

CQJP2012 May and July

At last "Barefoot Girl," my May crazy quilt journal project block is complete. And here it is almost May again. Can I finish this project in 2013? We'll see.

I have blocks June through September pieced, but I have mislaid a piece of yarn I need for June. So I am working on July entitled "Independence and Creativity in honor of my nine year-old granddaughter, Lorelei, who was born in July. I's her infant "I am woman" pose featured as a silky on the block.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Independence is for the birthday of the USA and creativity is for my granddaughter's because she is a very creative person. I love that about her.

 

The red circle at the top left is meant to be a balloon, but it needs a different highlight to look like one. It will be one of 3 in red, white and blue. There will be mice on the block, because Lorelei has been a mouse enthusiast since she got two as pets for her fifth birthday. She still draws them often and they populate her fantasy place, Meek World.  Other ideas will come in the crazy quilting way as I work along on the block.

 

I'm wondering how all these blocks in different color ways will go together at the end. Hmmm.



Southern Spring, CQJP 2012 April Block

Oh, me. This isn't the end of April, is it. It IS the finish of a flowered block inspired by spring in the south. I'm a native of Iowa. When I moved from there in 1970 to Raleigh, North Carolina, I was delighted with the blooming of  shrubs and trees in the spring. Azalea, dogwood, redbud, apple, pear, and cherry blossom. And it goes on all summer with magnolia, crepe myrtle, mimosa. Just plain beautiful. I now live in Maryland, where it is still the south and I am still delighted every spring.

 The photo on this block is of the pink dogwood in front of my house. Mine is the the house in the foreground with the big picture window for viewing it. The tree is very old. I don't know how many more years I will have it, so I savor all the more the pink beauties it blooms each spring.

February CQJP 2012 Block

It''s woman power and the stages of a woman's life. I had no idea this would be it when I began. I just wanted to use a beautiful carved cameo cabochon of a girl which I have had for a long time.

This lovely maiden made we think of the stages of a woman's life: maiden, mother, wise woman. And a theme was born.

I added the vintage brooch of a woman I bought at Accessories of Old several years ago when they still had their bricks and morter store.

I needed the face of an old woman for the wise woman image, so I pulled out the package of sculpey my son-in-law gave me for Christmas and made one. Actually I made 3 and picked my favorite, although I almost decided to look for something else, because I'm definitely an amatuer sculptor. I think now she looks like she could give some good advise.

I also added a dragon charm as a symbol of woman power.  Way back in 1978, as a slightly frustrated feminist (the Equal Rights Amendment to the constitution was going down to defeat), I was reenergized and inspired by reading, When God Was a Woman, by Merlin Stone. It was in this book I learned that the dragon was an ancient symbol for the goddess and I have used and collected dragon images and items since then.

My friend Helen, of my crazy quilt group told me it is also a symbol of transformation. And, doesn't that fit with the whole theme, too!

At last April's Crazy Quilt Adventure in Connecticut, we exchanged hand-made  motifs. Some pretty ribbon flowers I received were the perfect color for this block. I regret I discarded the card that was with them, so I can't personally thank the friend who made them. I hope you see this to see how pleasingly they were used.

After all the seams were embellished, I had one spot left for a motif, so I furthered the mother theme with an image of madonna and child.

Here is the completed block, finished 2 days into March. I hope to make up that slippage and stay on schedule to have a complete quilt at the end of the year. I didn't want to start slipping this soon. These are 8 inch blocks.

CQ Adventure Block Finished

I have finished the block I used for learning stitches and motifs at the 2011 Adventures in Crazy Quilting retreat for Sharon Boggon's class and workshop in Connecticut in April. Sharon does encrusted embellishment on her quilts, a different style from mine. I like the more traditional motif and seam treatment style. So, it was interesting to me to experiment with more encrusting. You'll note I still left a significant amount of lightly embellished space. I ran the encrusting in a swoosh across the block. This doesn't keep the eye inside the block as Sharon teaches for design, but I like it.

I used the French facing technique for finishing after tying the backing to the block. The technique was published by Allie Aller in CQMagOnline. I like the neat look of it.

Hearts and Hands for Sendai block

I've finished my Hearts and Hands for Sendai block and sent it to Leslie Ehrlich, the coordinator. She described the requirements on her blog. Deadline for submitting the blocks is June 30, 2011, so you have time  to make one if you wish. It's a fund raiser for earthquake/tsunami relief in Japan.

Here is mine.