2014 - Plans - Ideas - Goals - Dreams

Hi everyone, I'm back from my hols, and raring to stitch.

Plans, Ideas, Goals & Dreams

This year I am going to make another crazy quilt.

It will differ from my last one in a few ways; colour, style, theme, and process.

My colour scheme this year is going to be from 
purple through pinks, reds, oranges, yellows and golds 
and will probably include some black, white and neutrals too.

The style will be slightly traditional in its overall look but probably will not be labelled traditional, and may even be classed as contemporary. 

Perhaps "rustic" or "naive" might fit what I have in mind for it.

Those of you who know me well will know that Free Form Stitching will play a big part in the crazy quilt too.

As for the theme - it will be  Straight From The Heart 

with a hint of love, 

so hearts, flowers, birds, doves, music,

names, monograms, poems, quotes & symbols,

will be included in the embroidery and embellishing, hopefully without too much gush or frills.

THE PROCESS of creating the Crazy Quilt (bed quilt) 

will be a different way of working for me. 

I have thought, long and hard, about what other commitments I have this year, and how I am going to get my stitching fix when I am travelling back and forth to Hawkes Bay with the house moving process (which we anticipate will take us most of the year to sort out).

So I have planned a crazy quilt that I can create in small pieces each week (small enough to keep in my handbag) and then, hopefully once a month, attach each small piece to a bed-sized whole-cloth backing fabric.

Oh, a couple of other things about these small  STITCHERIES  - 
They will be of irregular shapes and sizes as befits a crazy quilt. 
The background fabric will have to fit into a 6" embroidery hoop. 
The motifs & symbols etc. will be stitched all over them before being attached to the backing, butting up against the straight edge of the next Stitchery. 
Straight running stitch will be used to attach the Stitcheries to the backing. 
Raw edges will be showing.

This is what I have managed so far over the last two weeks while we were in Hawkes Bay.

I started with a heart that I appliqued with blanket stitch to a dusky pink velvet base fabric, then hand stitched a meander over the heart, and added some raised circles in pink.

I crocheted a couple of flower shapes. 

Then added the heart outline, latticework, another crochet shape, buttons, beads and French Knots etc.

Week One complete. 

Week Two started with another heart, but a braid one this time.

Then came a swirly thing in pink and black, and another latticework pattern that was inspired and developed from the pattern on the fabric.

A random bit of crocheting created the appliqued purple piece.

Then came some Lazy Daisy flowers to fill the empty space on the right.

Both of these stitcheries are about 5 inches square. I will cut them in different shapes with 3, 4, 5, or 6 sides, depending on what shape is needed to fit all the Stitcheries onto my backing fabric.

I anticipate making at least one small Stitchery each week, sometimes more than one if I have time. This means that I will have something to show each week, hopefully.

And I will have a goal of attaching a months worth of Stitcheries to the backing for a 

 monthly reveal , 

and to show how the quilt is progressing.

Other projects for the year include:

The annual challenge for a Freeform Fiberart work - theme this year is One Colour, 

Deadline = 1 May.

Edit and create the official book for the above challenge. 

Deadline = 1 June.

Learn how to tat.

Make crocheted garments and publish more patterns for my Etsy shop and Ravelry.

De-clutter the house to make it presentable to prospective purchasers.

I think I have a busy year ahead.

A Week of Designing

I have been in designing mode for a couple of days now.

This big box of cottons and threads are some of my 'treasures' that I brought back from my UK visit. They WERE in my mothers stash, and now they are in mine, haha.

I envisage many happy days of stitching and/or crocheting.

The following projects are ones that need a bit more planning, arranging, and organizing.

 The 12 crazy quilt blocks for CQJP 2012 are finished and need arranging for their final placement.

 I have auditioned a variety of fabric colours for the borders, and decided not to go with sashing on them as they look rather good right next to each other.

 I have made my colour choice, but will not reveal it to you just yet, in case I change my mind (I usually do).

The middle section has been created and needs a few more stitches added until I am happy to add it to the quilt. 

My crazy quilt for CQJP 2013 (yep, I have signed up for another year of craziness). I can see this quilt in my head, I just need to get it sorted in fabric and stitched up. 

I worked through a few major design problems last year, so I should be better prepared for this one (famous last words haha).

Last year the size of my blocks was 9" square. They were very labour intensive on hand-stitching. Don't get me wrong here, I love, love love hand-stitching, but I had trouble keeping up with creating one block a month because I wanted more and more embellishments added to them. 

So this year, I am going for a complete change - minimalist. 

Ok, I can hear all those groans. 

How can a crazy quilt be minimalist?

Well, the answer is ..... I'm not sure!

I have an idea, but I shall have to experiment a little bit with it to find out if it really works, and, more importantly, if I like it.

I have a feeling this is going to be another learning curve where I find out more about myself too.

As for the colour scheme for this quilt, lol....... IT too will be a complete change from last year.

I am in URGENT need of some colour in my life.

I pulled out a lot of my bright fabrics and laid them on the table. 

The following pic is of the fabrics that made it to the short list. And you can see I have narrowed it down a bit more since taking the photo.

    LOOK!!!                     NO PURPLE    

So that is what I have been up to so far this week.

Now let the stitching fun begin.

Happy Stitching

CQJP - January samples

CQJP - January

I still haven't got even one block made up yet. I need to find a whole day when I can get my sewing machine out and get cracking on this. But I have, at least pulled together all the parts to complete my project. So you can see that I haven't exactly been idle on this challenge.

The fabric I have blogged about before, so here are the

Threads - Beads - Buttons etc.

Crazy Quilt Ideas

Progress on the Crazy Quilt that I am making to do my TAST stitching on.

I have eventually found the blue/teal colour that I was looking for, and I was in such a hurry to photograph it that I haven't even washed or ironed it yet.

I have played with arrangement ideas and colour schemes in my digital program and come up with the following ideas that I am happy to continue with refining until I get the modern/contemporary look for my traditionally stitched CQ blocks.

12 blocks in 4 x 4 arrangement joined edge to edge around a large square in centre for extra embellishments.

The centre could also be another CQ block or applique focal point.

Same arrangement of 12 blocks 4 x 4, but with sashing between blocks, and a black border on centre square and black binding around whole wall hanging.

Almost the same as above, but with a solid black square centre piece. Plenty of scope for TAST embroidery on that black square.

3 x 5 arrangement around a large central rectangle. I rather like the wide black border too.

Now this is more what I am looking for and I'm starting to feel that I'm getting somewhere with the designing.

Change the orientation and add WELCOME to the middle (I might not really add this to the final work), and my wall hanging is just right for the wall in my entrance hall that is right opposite the front door.

So much for my earlier thoughts that I definitely wanted a square wall hanging.

The blue/teal coloured areas in any of my designs above could also be made up of CQ strips and blocks in similar colours, tones and shades to that lovely fabric I have found. 

No more prevarication, digital or otherwise.

I'm ready for the needle and thread.