Espritpatch

I have finished my Circle of Geese in pink for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge . I didn't have enough pink in my scrap box so I had to dive into my stash as well. The "pink bubbles" at the top is a fabric I have used in a number of quilts and also in Miss Strawberry Shortcake book bag. The strawberry on the left is from a "Strawberry Shortcake" fabric that my Mum has used to make a teddy bear for Miss Strawberry Shortcake. The little red and pink spots are from a fabric I used to make Miss Strawberry Shortcake outfit for her own special photo shoot last year. The little hands come from my stash and is so appropriate for Baby Girl. Yesterday I also managed to piece a crazy block in the hope that I will finish embellishing it by Saturday night for the CQ Journal 2012 . Celine

I pieced this block earlier this month, using the same idea as last month block. I picked the central fabric first (a scrap from a silk tie) and tried to find in my stash fabrics that would match the colours of the focus fabric to finish the square off. Once the block was pieced, I went through my ribbons, embellishments etc but I couldn't find anything which I thought would work for this block. So I was left to work with embroidery and beads only but the block wasn't really "talking to me", I couldn't find any inspiration. So I left the block aside until this week when I slowly started to embroider the seams. And this is what I ended up with, I am actually pleased with the block I have done, especially for a block which wasn't "talking to me"! I added this flower from lace I hand-dyed years ago. The pink was very close to the pink fabric so that was a good match! I also decided that it would be good to make a block that would have images of thi...

This week as well as doing some hand-sewing, I have practised embroidery stitches again on my first CQ journal block that I showed you a few days ago. I have taken inspiration from Sharon at Pin Tangle with her Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge and have browsed through all the ribbons, lace, motifs, threads and beads I have accumulated through the year for CQ - sadly largely left untouched over the last few years - to embellish my first block. I have always been of the "less is more" approach to embellish my blocks in the past so I would say this one is moderately heavily embellished for me! I am happy to have completed this first block and have really enjoyed making something different. It is relaxing to sit in a chair and do a couple of stitches now and then. Celine

Yesterday evening was Friday Night Sew-In and I didn't sign up for it as I wasn't sure I'd found some time to do anything at all. But in the end between a feed and a few cuddles to Baby Girl, I managed to find a little time to finish off my Rainbow Scrap Challenge block that I started earlier this week. This month was red so I dived into my red and white (background) scrap baskets to make this pretty Circle of Geese. I had admired those blocks for a while and thought it would be a good one for a rainbow quilt. And it doesn't use that much of the focus colour but quite a bit of background and my white scrap basket is overflowing so that should help to get it down. I used a paper-piecing pattern from Piece by Number that was very easy to follow. This week I also prepared a block for my CQ Journal 2012 . I was going to go for a monochromatic block (as I usually do) in red to keep with the colour of the month. But when I selected my fabric for the centre of my block (a...

I have signed up for another interesting challenge/project for 2012: the Crazy Quilting Journal Project which  starts in January 2012. The rules are simple, we piece one block a month - 6x6 minimum in size - and then embellish it during the month. It is an individual project but with the encouragements of the others in the group. The project caught my eye because I haven't done any crazy quilting for a while, despite having collected lots of supply over the years and also enjoying the process! Moreover, this is an easily transportable project as it is made of small squares that I might be able to leave around for when Baby has a nap for example (wishful thinking maybe!). I am hoping to be able to follow the challenge but because it isn't a swap, I know I won't disappoint anyone if I can keep up for a few months. If you are also interested in this lovely challenge, and in promoting Crazy Quilting on your blog/website at the same time, run over to the CQJP webs...