Little garden on a hill - ready to fly off to Japan

Cast on stitch flowers and French knots made with Antique Rose and Golden Green Chameleon perlé no.12, a chirping little fellow who landed on the wisteria branch,

and white pebbles made using French knots and seed stitches with one strand of white DMC stranded cotton, were my last additions to Hideko's garden. 

Sitting on the garden bench or swing, if you wish, enjoying the spring breeze, the scent of the flowers, listening to the bird's song and the sound of a friend's steps on the pebble paths, coming over for tea... Isn't that a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon?

Have a beautiful weekend, Everyone!

Little Garden on a Hill

Taking a break from a larger project that requires more concentration than I am capable of for longer than a couple of hours, I treated myself to a play date with the "snowball" I pieced a few days ago.

Sketching the embellishments was where I left off the last time. Now, with my transparent paper pinned to the block, I realized that, while the green patch on the bottom looked like a nice hill and I could use that idea, it's orientation also gave the block a rather sad look. I solved this by adding some flower beds, getting inspiration from a great Japanese embroidery book I received as a gift from my dear friend, Lee Albrecht.

With the flower beds sketched, it only seemed natural to use a variation of blanket stitches for the seam around the hill, to suggest a little fence. Then came the variation of feathered chain stitch on the right seam, and the feather stitch seam treatment for the lavender-blue patch on the top, both to be taken a bit further by beading.

For the patch on the left I planned a tree with blossom clusters, and to balance the block, wisteria for the patch on the right. And maybe a butterfly in the center...

To transfer the pattern of the flower beds to the block, I copied it on tissue paper, pinned the paper to my block and went along the lines with running stitches. Then I tore away the tissue paper, embroidered the flower beds with whipped stem stitch and unpicked the running stitches.

Now they are ready for flowers to be planted :)

What I am really looking forward to is embroidering the tree. This would be my first one... I'll let you know how that goes.

Until then,

have a wonderful week, Everyone!

Curved Piecing the Meticulous Way - Tutorial

Most of the blocks in the Snowball Fight swap with CQI being the size of a CD, their shape inspired me to practice curved piecing.

Usually I do most of my CQ piecing by machine, but my sewing machine and I can barely get along for stitching in a straight line, so whenever it comes to curved piecing, we agreed to disagree and let each other be and I piece by hand.
There are various methods for curved piecing that I found on the internet or in books, but somehow I couldn't get my curves nice enough with any of those. Now, after several blocks pieced, I  have found my own way and I can honestly say that I am happy with my curves LOL

Having to piece another CD sized block today, I thought I'd document the process and share a small tutorial with those who, like me, had a bit of a trouble with their curves :)

So this is how I make my "snowballs":

0. On a piece of paper I trace a circle around a CD, for the actual size of the finished piece, and then I trace a larger circle around the first one, for the 1.5-2 cm sewing allowance around the block. Then I design my pattern, drawing the arches with the help of the CD. (Can you tell what I was listening to after I was done drawing the arches? LOL)

Then I lay a piece of supporting fabric (old sheets, in my case) over my drawing and as the fabric is transparent enough, I can easily transfer the design on it.  (I like to keep my support fabric larger, so I can use a hoop when embellishing). Usually the lightly traced lines are also visible on the back of the supporting fabric, otherwise I lightly trace them again on the back, too.

Next I cut my pattern into pieces:

1. Laying pattern piece no.1, right side up, on the right side of fabric no.1, I lightly trace around the pattern, cut the patch into shape, leaving a 0.5 cm seam allowance and pin it in place on the supporting fabric. Now all the curves are aligned, ready for the next patches.

2. Laying pattern piece no.2, wrong side up, on the wrong side of fabric piece/patch no.2, I lightly trace around the pattern and cut out the fabric, leaving a 0.5cm seam allowance. Then, I run a line of basting stitch exactly on the line of the curve to be sewn on. No starting or ending knots here, that stitch is coming out in a matter of minutes.

Then, folding the seam allowance to the wrong side, I pinch the fabric between my left thumb and index finger so that the basting line is right on the "ridge" of the fold, and as I go along, pinching the fabric so that the curve shapes smoothly, I run a second line of basting stitch to hold the fold down.

At this point out comes the first line of basting stitch, I press my fabric, curve and all, and sew it in place on the supporting fabric and patch no.1 with tiny invisible stitches, using the guidance of the pattern traced on my supporting fabric. After removing also the second line of basting stitches I press my piece again.

Repeating step 2 for all the remaining patches, after about two hours of tracing, cutting, basting, pressing and sewing (and taking pictures), I had my piece ready for the fun part - embellishing.

Too laborious? Maybe. But those curves are nice, too, aren't they? I think it is worth the effort...

Now, for planning the embellishments, I place a sheet of transparent paper over my pieced block, trace the pattern and, if the case, even sketch the design of the patterned fabrics or lace motifs I have used on my block. I keep my block under the paper, so I can see the colors, the patterns and start sketching with pencil my seam treatments, embroidered motifs or whatever other type of embellishment I wish to use.

Today I had to stop here, but I can show you the sketch I started out with to make Cathy's Snowball.

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Hoping that you will find this tutorial useful, I remain, as ever, yours truly,

Snowball Fight

Snow is long gone, but the Snowball Fight swap continues at Crazy Quilting International. My partner for April is Cathy K. at Cathy's Crazy by Design.
Cathy wished for bright colors, "think Kaffe Fassett", she said :)

Although at first i was a bit intimidated by the bright colors of his designs, it was fun and refreshing to try my hand with more color than I am used to.

In May I am playing with Hideko from Japan. I've pieced her block yesterday, it still needs to be embellished, but you can see the block she already made for me HERE.


Have a wonderful day, Everyone!

 

Snowball Fight

This is a long overdue post, as a couple of weeks have passed since I "got hit" by the gorgeous snowball, that was made for me by my first swap partner in the Snowball Fight at CQI, Connie.

With the colors chosen by me, lilac, lavender, pink and green, Connie created this beautiful, CD sized piece of art. I plan to finish it into a journal cover, but until then I can't bring myself to put it away in a drawer, so I keep it on my nightstand so I can admire it every time I pass by :)

Photos by Connie

Thank you Connie for swapping with me!

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"Snowball Fight" is a swap I am participating in, with CQI. The idea is to piece and embellish a small CQ block, according to the preferences of the person we are making it for.
My swap partner for February is Connie. She asked for cream-gold-bronze in ways of color, with lots of sparkle. She loves lace, silk ribbon and beading a lot and also appreciates a vintage or encrusted look.

With these instructions in mind and the desire to practice curved piecing, I pieced the CD sized block you have already seen:

Silk, satin, golden lame, golden net on cream silk and a flower motif I cut out from a golden lace were the first ingredients. Then came the silk ribbons and beads and pearls and golden braid to add more sparkle.

I was planning to add something more to the center, but the moment the block got to the stage you can see, it whispered to me "I am finished..." I can't argue with that, can I?

And one last picture, taken under direct sunlight, just because I love the way it turned out:

I hope Connie will like the snowball I am about to "throw at her"...

Wishing you all a sunny day,