Block 2 Embellished

Block 2 of my 2020 Challenge is now completely embellished and is waiting on backing. I have decided to embellish several before putting the individual backing on each block. I am undecided at this point if I will make the whole quilt hexagons or maybe make it like a medallion quilt and use it as the center piece of the quilt. Still mulling it over. If I do decide to use these as a center medallion it will make it much easier to unpick just the one with backing instead of having to unpick seven or more. I love how this block has turned out. I did have trouble getting started after putting the little lizard siggy on here, but I finally had a spurt of creative juice and went with it. I love how this block came together. The pics really do not give the block justice for the bold and saturated colors. It has been rain filled days here and taking pics is not easy in the gray light.

Block #2 Count
Fabrics: 5
Lace: 1
Trims: 1
Buttons: 4
Beads: 2
Silk Ribbon: 2
Thread: Silk handyed 1
              Perle 12 x 1
              Perle 8 x 1
Motifs: Butterfly x 1
             Leaves x 1
Seam Treatments: buttonhole feather, french knots (counted in block 1) detached chain (counted in block 1) straight stitch ( counted in block 1) outline stitch

Total items this block: 22
Total seam treatments: 3
Grand total: 25
Total so far for the project: 62 of 2020

Celebrating Mom

This shows five generations of girls in our brood. The eldest and first generation is Mom of course with me being the second generation standing behind her in the blue tunic. Next is my daughter Frostie which is my oldest sitting next to mom and then Bliss is standing next to me which makes the third generation. Next is Kristian who is standing next to Bliss who is holding Jazmine who are the fourth generation. Last but not least is Kayle and McKenzie which are the fifth generation! We were waiting on William Bruce to make his appearance into the world (which he did this week :) ) We seem to have an abundance of girls in our family and low volume of boys. My son was the first born in 36 yrs when he came along. My sister has one son, her daughter has one son, and my oldest daughter has one son and her daughter just had a son. The rest are all girls.

This is my brood minus the hubster who is working out of state at the moment. My son who is directly behind me is my youngest and has the honor of being the first boy in 36yrs. (let me add he was the first on both my side and my husbands side 32yrs) He is named after both his grandpas and they were so happy to have a boy in the brood after so long. My brother has all girls and one grandson with three granddaughters. So the trend is continuing for having girls. Bliss my middle daughter is standing next to me. The rest of these belong to Frostie and her husband who is behind her. Of course Payton died at birth and would have been the second son to be born into the family for Frostie. Jazmine is the youngest of course of Frosties. Her son is the tall one in the back being 6'3" at only 17. Then Kristian and her husband and two littles.

My sister made the cake and cupcakes for mom. She made a garden with a red bird as that is moms favorite bird.

Mom and yours truly.

My sister, mom and me.

Mom and Bliss being silly together! Mom is such a good sport. Bliss wanted a funny face pic with her and she was happy to do so. Those two had a great time making funny faces.

We celebrated my moms 83rd birthday on Saturday August 26th. We had such a fun time with her during the party. It was nice to get together with her and the family to celebrate the matriarch of our family. A good time was had by all. There was cake, cupcakes, food and fun. We missed dad a great deal as this is another first without him, but we shared memories and felt him near as we gathered as a family. Mom was so surprised that we pulled it off without her finding out. Especially since the littles in the family cannot keep a secret (and one or two of the adults as well :) ) Yet, she did not find out and was truly surprised! My mom is the strongest woman that I know and it was awesome being able to do this for her. My sister and I planned and plotted and it all came together in the end with one surprised mom and two happy siblings. Hope your day was as fun and filled with love as mine was! Until next time!

Block #2 in The 2020 Crazy Quit Challenge

Block two is ready to be stitched and embellished to the ninth degree...I am looking forward to embellishing this block with stitch and beading this go round. Below is the finished block #1 after the backing fabric was added. There will be more stitched to this as the blocks are put together at a later date. I have ten more blocks cut out and ready to start stitching on. Each block will be completely hand stitched from start to finish. No machine work at all for these blocks. That is my personal challenge for this project. Now, lets get a cuppa and start stitching on block two!

I love how this block turned out...I do want to address something here though...I posted this block on a site and a comment was made that really irked me and it takes a lot to irritate me, but this comment did. Here is what the person wrote in the comments section "I love that you are doing all by hand. I wonder if the white piece might look better tea dyed to off set the starkness...just sayen" Those are her exact words...first if you cannot say something nice, don't leave a comment. Don't start out nice and then be critical. Secondly its not your block and you have no idea why the little doily was left white. Thirdly negative comments no matter how nicely couched are hurtful, so don't write them. I did comment back that the little doily was my grans, therefore I did not want to change the look of it. I know how stark it stands out against all the color. This is not my first experience with crazy quilting. I have been crazy quilting since the early 90's and have a great understanding of color and blending as I also come from a long line of artists. At the same time, this block holds special meaning with my nod to my gran. I don't need to tone down the starkness of the doily to fit in with the block. It fits perfectly on the block. Why would I want to change something that holds special meaning to me? I wouldn't. I did not ask for constructive criticism on this block. I did not ask for someone else's idea of perfect for my block. Yes, I could have put this on a white on white block or toned it down to blend better with the glorious color on the block, but then it would have changed the meaning of the doily. My gran was a prolific sane quilter and I am sure she would love this little nod to her. I inherited this doily when I was in my early 20's. I have kept it as pristine as the day it was given to me. No way was I going to change a precious item that was my grans. The white speaks of the starkness of loss that is inherent in all the colorful ways life interacts with us on a daily basis. My gran was a most lovely lady and loved us all with a very big heart. When she passed, she left a starkness in our lives that can never be filled by anyone else. As I said before, the white doily has meaning to me and I am fine with the starkness of the white on all the color. The only opinion that matters at the end of the day is mine anyhow. I just had to get this off my chest and as this has been a very hard day as today is my dads birthday and the first one since his death. And I am sure that the little nods that I put into this crazy quilt for those who have gone on will puzzle some people to no end. But, at the end of the day as long as I know why it is there and what the reasoning is behind it is all that matters. Oh, there will be more of these precious stark white doilies in this quilt, just so you know! :)

New Crazy Quilt Challenge for 2020

This is the start of a new crazy quilt for a challenge that Sharon Boggin of http://pintangle.com/  has put out for all those who love to crazy quilt. This is a long term project ending on Dec. 31, 2020. You can find all the details and guidelines about the challenge here: http://pintangle.com/2020-crazy-quilt-guidelines/ I have chosen to make hexagons for my project and will join them at a later date. I think this is very doable given the timeline involved. I will be keeping a stitching journal as well to document my progress as I work on each block. The challenge is to use 2020 different items on your crazy quilt. This can be fabrics, stitches, beads, buttons, laces, trims, motifs, silk ribbon embroidery etc. The goal is to have 2020 different items on your crazy quilt when completed. No duplicates of what you count. You can read more about the challenge on the above link.

Block #1                                      
Fabrics 5                                                       
lace 1
ric rac 1                                          
buttons 10                                                       
thread dmc x2strands= 2
perle cotton 7                                             
mini doily 1
leaf trim 1
backing fabric 1                                                                                       
seam treatments :
feather stitch
detatched chain stitch
bullions
french knots
pistil stitch 
chevron
straight stitch

Total Items this block: 29
Total Seam Treatments/Stitches: 8
Grand Total: 37

Off to a good start and am looking forward to making more throughout this challenge. I can only count the backing once as it will be the same for each block.

The Boys

My sweetboys are enjoying a bit of sun between rain showers.