Yay, my Asian nights blocks are home! Thank you to Pegsue, Rita, Sarma, Theresa, and Carol for making them look so fantastic! My husband especially likes the hand. I think it reminds him of Kung Fu Hustle.
Back in January, I sent this block out for the butterflies and dragonflies round robin. I use a bunch of rectangles because I like the structure better than a more random look. The picture below is how it came back - lots of dragonflies! I love dragonflies. The seam treatments are also wonderful, and I'm happy to have it. Now I need to incorporate it into something bigger!
I have completed the last round robin I've signed up for now. This is Cathy L's block for the midnight fantasy garden. It was pretty full when I got it, with the mushrooms on the lower right the only large unstitched space. I find high contrast figural fabrics like that one hard to embellish. They've already got a story! What I ended up doing was highlighting some of the mushrooms and then doing the same for the flowers on the bottom. It's on its way home to her now. I hope she likes it.
This is the last of the butterflies and dragonflies blocks in the round robin. It's Arlene's, and I think she picked lovely colors for her block. There wasn't much room left, so I ended up filling in little odds and ends.
One caterpillar, one butterfly, and one dragonfly later, the piece is on its way home.
I received my Midnight Fantasy Garden block back a week and a half ago. It was stitched on by four ladies. Two of them did a wonderful, lovely, great job. Their work is pretty much all on the right side of the block. They did some great embroidery and an applique butterfly and crocheted pieces on it. I love the right side of the block.
The right was mainly done by the other two ladies. I cried when I saw it. I hadn't specifically said "no apple faces" and "no pastels" an "no toy butterflies" on my block, but I had hoped that, you know, people would stick to the theme and the color scheme, overall. It's courteous to do so. I will be completely reworking the left side soon. The current configuration brings me pain.
This, along with some other issues in the group, is why I am not signing up for more round robins with Crazy Quilting International. I do my best work, looking at the block and the preferences of the block owner, and don't throw whatever is in my "to be tossed" pile of accessories to put on a block. I'd like others to do the same. Unfortunately, these two ladies (and I keep getting into round robins with them for some reason), don't follow the golden rule in that regard.
Should I be as upset as I am in this regard?
I worked on Kathy's butterflies and dragonflies block last week. The block still has one more person to go after me, and was already nearly full. I found some places to work, though. There are now a yellow bug in the lower left corner, a row of daisies in the pink, a caterpillar, and a row of ribbon flowers on some seams. I hope she likes it.
This is the last of the midnight Asian blocks in the round robin. Peggy had mentioned a Ming tree in her notes, and no one had made one yet, so I did. The block is somewhat plain after I did it, but it didn't seem right to embellish it more and detract from the tree.
Someone else caught onto my idea that Asia isn't just the far east! Rita sent her blocks asking for India-inspired stitchery. What is a better exemplar of India than a paisley, one of the shapes invented there? So I did one! I added a few more mandala type things, too. I hope she likes it.
Back in January, I sent this block out as part of the Wine round robin. Below, you can see its condition when returned. Thank you Beryl, Darlene, Carol, and Kathy! It looks fabulous, and, as I said in my original booklet, I'll be sending it to my husband's parents to be made into a wall hanging for them!
Last week, I showed you Candji's block in progress. The bottom picture is after my work; the top is before. The biggest thing I did was to cover over one of the large butterflies with embroidery. Other things include a caterpiller, some ladybug ribbon, and a couple of premade butterflies from Uruguay. I hope Candji likes the additions.
I rarely show one of the crazy quilt round robin blocks in progress, but, being on vacation, I wasn't able to finish it in time for a picture. The butterfly on the upper left is the one I'm working on.
Kathy's block came to me a little bit low on flowers for a garden block, so I added some broderie anglaise ones; big, bold roses.
I was the last person to work on Beryl's wine block. Even though the space was awkward, I managed to put on a wine quote. All of the wine blocks I did ended up with words on them. I also added bits off lace and beading. It's off to her now, and I hope she likes it when she gets it. The end result is shown below.
One more wine round robin block passed through my hands. Here's Carol's block, both before and after.
I was rather upset when I received this block. It's thrice the area a round robin block in the group it's in is supposed to be. On top of that, the owner asked for a lot of encrusting and extra embellishment. For a smaller than usual block, that's great. For a monsterly huge block like this, that's pretty ridiculous. On top of that, this block is so far out of my comfort zone taste-wise that I was flummoxed as to what to put on it. My first thought was a My Little Pony. Instead, I embellished the unicorn and added flowery stuff around it. I hope the owner likes this block, but I'm thinking I'm going to withdraw from any other round robin theme she signs up to that I am already part of. Is this fair of me?
Here is my first block of work for the Butterflies and Dragonflies round robin. Cathy L's block came to me as shown on the left. To me, the block looked very 1960's for some reason. In that vein, I decided to do a pop art butterfly in wool on the lower right and to outline the barely visible butterflies on the fabric in the upper left. You can see pictures of both embellishments below.
I spent a long time embroidering a big, huge leaf on Darlene's wine block. I also added a smaller leaf and a quote from Robert Lewis Stevenson. I hope she likes it. Top is before; bottom is after.
Moving along on the Asian round robin, I have Sarma's block. She asked for a dragon, so I made one. It took a lot of time to do all those chain stitch lines! I am not quite pleased with the wings, but I think the rest came out pretty well.
This is Lyn's Midnight Fantasy Garden block. Below is the same block after my work. I tried to keep to dark colors and to add some lushness with beads. I hope she likes what I did.
This was Theresa's Asian night block before I did anything. Below it is finished. The main work I did on it was the paisley and the dragon character. The rest took less time but filled up the block and brought out its character more. I hope she likes it.
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I was rather upset when I received this block. It's thrice the area a round robin block in the group it's in is supposed to be. On top of that, the owner asked for a lot of encrusting and extra embellishment. For a smaller than usual block, that's great. For a monsterly huge block like this, that's pretty ridiculous. On top of that, this block is so far out of my comfort zone taste-wise that I was flummoxed as to what to put on it. My first thought was a My Little Pony. Instead, I embellished the unicorn and added flowery stuff around it. I hope the owner likes this block, but I'm thinking I'm going to withdraw from any other round robin theme she signs up to that I am already part of. Is this fair of me?
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