Well... here we are... waiting for the polls to open (it's election day here in NZ)... waiting... waiting... that's what I get for waking up at 5.30 in the morning. So I figured now was a good time to document my returning blocks. The blocks for all three RRs I was in have returned (we aren't talking about the UTS RR... EV-ER).
The first one - A "seams only" RR - came back a couple of months ago. The second one - Garden & Flowers Traditional - arrived home last week, and the third one - Garden & Flowers DYOB - came home yesterday.
The stitchers for the Stitching Only 2013 RR were Maire C., Susie J., Molly P., Rose Anne B., and me, with Tahlia H. as angel.
You just GOTTA see Rose Anne's most adorable little ants! Aren't they just the cutest little things ever! (Can you tell I really love them?)
The stitchers for the G&F Traditional were Arlene W., Candace B., Velia A., Shelly R., and me, with Gerry H. as our angel. It is such a wonderful block, and I was totally thrilled when I saw it!
The stitchers for the G&F DYOB were Arlene W., Elizabeth R., Barbara W., Shelly K., Flora G., and me, with Renee Y. as our angel.
Arlene did the purple block
Liz did the green block
Barb did the orange/brown block
Shelly did the red/burgundy block
Flora did the blue block. Have a good look at the smaller lace - it looks like spiderwebs and bees. How cool is that?
That leaves the pink block for me to do.
All the blocks are just wonderful! I love the unique style that each stitcher has, and that I have come to recognise. I plan on making these into a wall hanging, and they will be the very first CQ work to be hung on my walls.
Thank you to all the ladies in all the RRs.
Well, gotta go vote now.
Finally, at long last, I am back on track with my embroidery, and have finished my work on Candji's block for the G&F Traditional RR.
With the area left to do, it seemed to naturally divide into a centre block, and a block down the right side. I chose to do the section down the right side.
As always with CQ, I started with the seams. My first seam was the long one that separated the area I was going to do from the area left for Arlene to stitch. I did this in a purple feather stitch, adding detached chain, and dark purple seed beads, to give it the look of a climbing vine.
The second seam was the one on the bottom patch, which I did in green stepped blanket stitch, adding detached chain leaves, detached chain petals in peach, and metallic gold seed beads.
The third seam was the one along the third-from-bottom patch. This I did in dark red herringbone stitch, adding gold metallic daisy spacers, and garnet seed beads in the centres.
The last seam, along the bottom of the top patch, was done in apricot Cretan stitch, with pearlized apricot seed beads and metallic gold hearts added.
I used a lot of metallic accents to pick up on the high sheen and metallics in the fabrics that were used in the block.
I then worked the motifs from the bottom up. The first was the patch of violets.
On the second patch I did a silver metallic spiderweb, with a pearl spider. The legs of the spider were done in a single strand of DMC Pearl Effects thread.
On the third patch I embroidered two stalks of hollyhocks.
On the last patch I did lovely Japanese Cherry blossom. I thought a descending tree branch was very fitting for the top patch.
I hope Candji is happy with the work. Now It will head off to Arlene for finishing.
