I unexpectedly got to do some round robin angel work in the Fairies III DYB round robin at CQI. These blocks are a blast and I know I will enjoy stitching on all of them. I have just had the privilege of choosing one of Rita's blocks to work on. Here is the set of six she made - difficult choice! The fushia one was already done when they got to me so that was out of the mix.
I finally decided on the little poppy fairy in the bottom right hand corner - I love poppies!
My highlight of working on this block was getting to make this silk ribbon poppy. Might not look all that impressive but what a lot of effort went into it! lol It is from an idea in a book by Ann Cox. First of all I had to order some ready to dye ribbon - luckily Ribbonsmyth got it out to me very quickly. Then I went shopping for silk dyes - Shuttleworks had a nice selection of Chromacolour silk dyes so I got those. The colour I made to dye the ribbon was a mix of red, magenta and a touch of blue. Ironed the ribbon after to set the dyes and finally ready to stitch! The poppy is made of four gathered petals - the end of each ribbon is plunged through to the back and secured. The center is a tiny little piece of silk ribbon gathered around a firmer base (should have been interfacing and batt but I used part of a velvet leaf cut to shape) and one strand of DMC was used for the straight stitches as well as a chain stitch around the circumferance. Then stitched the center onto the middle of the petals using the same strand of DMC and stitching through the chain stitch. I am actually very happy with how it turned out which is great since I usually don`t like the end result of any silk ribbon embroidery I do. I think maybe the key is larger flowers using larger ribbons so will be going through the rest of Ann Cox`s A - Z of Silk Ribbon Flowers as I stitch on other blocks in this round robin.
Anyway, that`s it and it is on its way to Australia now to the next stitcher. Hope she has as much fun as I did!
And here is the block once I was done with it. You might recognize my last BAS seam there. I used seed beads to make a frame for the silkie. Below the silkie are two dragonflies made from gold beads and some really cool charms I found. These charms have the wings and body of the dragonfly and you can use your choice of beads to add to it for the head and tail. I thought they were really neat when I found them - they were something I had not seen before. I added beads and a line of metallic chain stitch to the lace trim that Rita had dyed and had on the block when she sent it out.
I did pretty elaborate seam treatments so there wasn`t a lot of room left in the patches of this little six inch block for embellishment. I dyed a little flower motif and added it in the left corner. Also added some butterfly charms and a little button trail.
My highlight of working on this block was getting to make this silk ribbon poppy. Might not look all that impressive but what a lot of effort went into it! lol It is from an idea in a book by Ann Cox. First of all I had to order some ready to dye ribbon - luckily Ribbonsmyth got it out to me very quickly. Then I went shopping for silk dyes - Shuttleworks had a nice selection of Chromacolour silk dyes so I got those. The colour I made to dye the ribbon was a mix of red, magenta and a touch of blue. Ironed the ribbon after to set the dyes and finally ready to stitch! The poppy is made of four gathered petals - the end of each ribbon is plunged through to the back and secured. The center is a tiny little piece of silk ribbon gathered around a firmer base (should have been interfacing and batt but I used part of a velvet leaf cut to shape) and one strand of DMC was used for the straight stitches as well as a chain stitch around the circumferance. Then stitched the center onto the middle of the petals using the same strand of DMC and stitching through the chain stitch. I am actually very happy with how it turned out which is great since I usually don`t like the end result of any silk ribbon embroidery I do. I think maybe the key is larger flowers using larger ribbons so will be going through the rest of Ann Cox`s A - Z of Silk Ribbon Flowers as I stitch on other blocks in this round robin.
Anyway, that`s it and it is on its way to Australia now to the next stitcher. Hope she has as much fun as I did!
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