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Arlene's Pansies DYB Block

I have finished my stitching on one of Arlene's DYB (Do Your Block) round robin set.  The theme is Pansies and I chose this lovely pieced fan to work on.  I hope Arlene likes what I have done.  Following is what I did in excrutiating detail!  lol
This business at the top is supposed to look like lace at the top of the fan.  I made diamond shapes with Gloriana Princess Petite Perle in pink above a purchased rose trim I stitched down.  In each diamond I then did a diagonal and a horizontal line in two strands of white DMC.  Then I did a small cross on top of that with one strand of the same floss.  I wanted to add a bead at each intersection but ran out of time since I was already late in mailing this off.
The first blade of the fan was this gorgeous dragonfly fabric and I didn't want to cover it up so I used irridescent Kreinik blending filament to highlight the wings.  You can't see it all that well in this photo but it has a nice sparkle.  For the seam treatments on each end of the fan I used a simple long and short buttonhole stitch in black Gloriana Princess Petite Perle.
The next blade of the fan was the pink one.  I used waste canvas to make the counted cross stitch pansy.  Under that I added some meandering white silk ribbon and attached it with clear glass seed beads.  At the top of the ribbon is a mother of pearl button sewn on with a yellow glass pansy bead.
The seam treatment to the right of this fan blade is all done in the Gloriana again.  First I did two rows of cretan stitch, creating the space in the middle.  I made a small smyrna stitch in pale green in the space.  At the top and bottom of the cretan stitches I added a clear glass seed bead and five detached chain stitches in a blue/green.
To the left of the fan blade the seam treatment is made up of a row of herringbone stitch covered with a row of cretan stitch.  The herringbone stitches are topped with a trio of straight stitches and a blue glass bead tops each cretan stitch.
The next black fan blade cried out to me for a spider web for luck which I made in one strand of white DMC together with one strand of the same Kreinik blending filament.  Hovering overtop is a purple sequinned butterfly.
The seam treatment to the left is made of a gorgeous colour of Gloriana called peacock.  I made offset semicircles of buttonhole stitch and added a small faux pearl at each turn.
Time was really getting to be an issue at this point so in the last blade I added a pale blue lace floral motif.  Bit of a cheat but you can't hang onto these blocks forever, as much as I would like to!
Finally, this is the base of the fan.  I used some leaf trim from Ribbonsmyth for this seam attaching it along the veins of the leaves with one strand of green DMC.  Here and there I added the purple glass pansy beads.  I actually really like the way the silk leaves blend with the leaves in the fabric.
So, that's it!  On to the next round robin block now...

Comments

Arlene White said…
Absolutely stunning, love it all, thanks Kerry
Arlene
August 26, 2010 at 12:25 AM
Rachel said…
Looks delightful - well done!
August 26, 2010 at 5:34 AM
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