Janet's Garden Block

Hello All


Now I know some of you may have seen this on the Yahoo groups I am in , but I really like how this turned out and wanted to share more about it.

The idea of this RR was to have 1 focus fabric, then the owner would make a block as a sample of what they had in mind. We were then each to use the focus fabric to make a block ourselves. Janet's fabric was the black one you see with the flowers on it.She told me to do it my way and go crazy, so I did.

Here it is at the nekkid stage. There are "NO RULES" in CQ ( that's why I like it so much). But there do seem to be few that people tend to stick to and I broke a cardinal one here.Supposedly you are not to use too many prints, especially next to each other. Well technically every piece of fabric in here is a print. And I like it this way. Plain fabrics bore me and I like to use fabrics with pictures in/on them. I think it helps to tell the story. All my best blocks are themed. I don't know if it is laziness or creative, ( Definitely NOT crafty) to let the fabrics help with the theme. Maybe a little of each


Now here is the block after the laces, appliques and most seam treatments are done. A huge change already
Now here is the finished project. It took me 4 days to sew on all those beads and buttons. I have been gathering and hoarding for this project for almost a year.

Janet likes creepy crawlie things and has a major thing for spiders and frogs. I have a thing for fairies and butterflies, so we go together perfect huh?

IF I remember correctly there are: 7 spiders, 9 ladybugs, 23 butterflies,1 humming bird, 6 fairies, 4 frogs, 1 inchworm, 8 bees, 8 dragonflies, 1 snail and 1 hidden Mickey. See if you can find them all.

Close up of the beaded Fairy

And of course Janet's big Hairy Spider I just had to include

I have 4 of my 5 Create Your Own Theme blocks back and will post on them in a few days.

Off to work on more stuff

Later,
Lauri

And the Winner is..................

Hello All,


Now before the big reveal, first one observation.

Don't let the puppy pick! He has no attention span, won't sit still for a good photo op of the drawing and picked more than one.




SO .... there are 2 sets of winners. These are the ones that stuck to his face.Yummy huh?



Ati, Mindy and Debbie from Maine get to pick your prizes. Either a purse ( I can send you pics), a needlecase in your choice of colors or something like a pillow or small wall quitlet.

But not this:

http://tinyurl.com/2nkyve

or the puppy.


These are the ones he knocked out of the bowl while picking. I'll make each of you a heart.

Here is a beautiful pic for you to think of all day long

Everyone who won drop me an email and we'll discuss.

Next time Katrina picks!!

Later,
Lauri

100th Post Party

Hello All

This is my 100th post on my blog. In celebration of that I am having a giveaway!!!
You will have a choice of one of the purses I made OR a needlecase made especially for you with your favorite colors . IF you happen to be one of my readers who just drops by for Eye Candy and doesn't sew I am sure we can work something out.

This will be a random drawing and will close next Sunday night, midnight February 17th.
Just leave your name in the comments area below and please be sure to leave your email address.

Let the melee begin!!!

Later,
Lauri

Winter and Spring STS Blocks

Hello All
Here is the winter block after I did the first half. Notice the leaf trim in silver this time. Also the same fairy button in pewter and again a fairy print by Jo Wall

Here it is after Helina's work. I just love the tatted snowflake. I have always wanted to learn how to tat but just don't have the patience to learn at this point. I think it turned out great, don't you?

And this is my Spring block nekkid
After my embellishments. Same vine in green and button

Love this fairy print
I will be sending it to Gerry tomorrow. I have a block I have been working all week. Will post on it tomorrow. I guess I am finally getting into the swing of things again

Later
Lauri

Season To Season Block- Fall

Hello All

I am in Seasonal RR on CQ for Newbies. The first block we did was Fall.

This is the block "Nekkid" as we call a non embellished block



This is what it looked like after my half of the embellishments. That in the left corner is supposed to be a tree spirit




This is how it looked after my swap partner, JK, added hers. Her stitching is delicate and straight! I love what she added.





Here is what it looks like now. After I made my Winter block I realized I had the silk leafy trim in 4 different colors perfect for each season and that I had at least a dozen of the fairy buttons so I decided to make it an ongoing theme in all 4 blocks. So here it is in it's finished state.... I think




Later,
Lauri

OK I Get It..

Hello All,
I get it I need to post more, but as I said I am not a winter person. I HAVE been CQing. I just finished up Jo's Beaded RR block, plus did my bit on 2 more Your Favorite Song blocks. So I haven't been completely hibernating. I will post on those later, but first I wanted to show you my finished Beaded block. Thank you so much Jo, Carol, Cheryl and Leslie for all the work you did on it, It is beautiful!!!
The only thing I want to do is bead the yellow flowers in the center patch and maybe cover up some of the black lines in the drawing. I am so happy with this block.
Here it is naked And here is the finished product. I am sorry I chopped some of it off

If this doesn't give you inspiration I don't know what will.

Thank you again for all your work girls!!

Later,
Lauri

Blah Blah Blah Blah BLAHHHHHHHHHHHH

Hello All

I am deep in my mid Winter doldrums. I am not a winter person. From November through the end of March I want nothing other to sleep ALL day long and I would if I could. I find little joy in anything during this time. My poor winter baby ( who will be 17 on January 8th) is the only time I felt half alive in the winter. Though he did have to deal with a very drowsy mother. I think I overcompensated with him when he was a baby. Being born 2 weeks after Christmas in the middle of a Colorado winter and the 10th Grandson in a row without any girls. (There are still only 6 girls out of 23 grandkids) I think we were the only ones to be excited to see him. So I called him "The Baby" until he was almost 4, I don't think he knew his real name until he was 3

Ain't he cute?

Though on a better note ,that is the winter I discovered the Internet. I have had the same email address for 16 years. Though there were so few people on that I don't think I actually got a non spam email for about 4 years. LOL

I have some RR commitments due. One is due tomorrow and I haven't even started. ( Don't listen to that Gerry!!) I know I can get it done I just need to get off my sleepy butt. I have even hit all the stores ( Joann's , Michael's, Hobby Lobby. Wal Mart and 3 other local stores)and haven't even seen anything I wanted to buy. Man !! I must be in a slump

Here is a pic of the kiddos at Disneyland. I'm off to take a nap

LAter,
LAuri

Merry Christmas

Hello All

Merry Christmas from Disneyland!!!!
I am so happy, having all 5 kids here. The above pics are of New Orleans Square


Here's a few for Janet, I thought she would appreciate them

And the castle of course!!

No family picture yet, we can't get the kids all together long enough!!

Later,
LAuri

Finally!!

Hello All,

This is Nancy's block for the Fairy Tale RR. This RR started in January. We have been PLAGUED with some really bad mojo on this one. There have been a few people who have not held up their end of the bargain. They were in several groups and received blocks to work on and kept them for months, we are talking at least 6 months if not more. This block is finally getting back to Nancy. I got my Last Unicorn block back from this group, ( I forgot to post pics of it, I will soon)but my Little Mermaid is still missing in action. We know where it is, but she refuses to respond to any of us to return them. Anyone want to play enforcer for me in Portsmouth, Virginia?
AARRGGHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Anyway................................

Here is the block now. I wanted to do more but this is a huge block and I just could not finish it. I added a long evergreen and berry seam on the left.The blue candle seam in the middle, plus the red and green tree one at the top. the star seam and the white lacy one by Santa. I also added the plate of cookies and carrot, the mice, Ho Ho Ho and the big silver star. I have had that for a while, it is pretty big , but I knew I would find a home for it some day!LOL

I hope you enjoy Nancy.I would do a RR you anytime, none of the duds in these groups were your fault and you did all you could.

Later,
Lauri

Lesa's Favorite Song Block

Hello All

Lesa's song was Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Now you would think that might be easy to do as there are a lot of images but I ask you, "What the heck are rocking horse people?"

So I took the easy route and did the bridge by the fountain and the flowers that grow incredibly high.

The first pic is what the block looked like before I worked on it, The second is how it looks now. I particularly like the knight statue in the middle of the fountain. But I that might be cheating as all I did was sew it on.

Hope you enjoy it Lesa


Off to make overalls

Later
LAuri

Katie's Christmas Dress

Hello All

Here is a pic of Katrina in her Christmas dress I made for her last week.

I also finished my pirate shirt, which you won't see a pic of me in, cuz I DON'T do pictures of me. Then I made a Jacobite shirt for the hubby to wear with his kilt to the company christmas party. Which didn't happen because the cleaners closed at 12 and I went at 12:30. I weren't a very happy camper!

Later
LAuri

Lydia

Hello All

Here is the work I did on Flora's block. Lydia the Tattooed Lady. I incorporated my tattoos into my work. First I sewed on the applique of the Chinese dragon. My 7 dragons are Celtic but I couldn't find any like that.I just did not have enough umph to thread paint a dragon.
Then I added a silkie of Tinkerbell that I printed out. This is the exact tattoo I have on my leg.
I also did the butterfly border because I have one of those too. Then I put on the "Jesus Loves me AND my Tattoos" I have T shirt that says that. Some people at my old church used to give me a hard time and dirty looks when they saw my tats. So I wore the shirt and they had to at least be quiet about them
BTW I am having a hard time resisting the urge to get another one ( or 5) It is a very addictive thing to do. I am thinking of putting Cinderella's Castle behind my Tinkerbell, then I can add stars and fireworks around it to represent Grandkids when I get them. I also would like a mermaid but I don't know where to put it. I don't want any on my arms, ( Don't want to look too freaky) And I am too cheap to put one on my back. If I pay that much money for something I want to be able to see it

And now a really boring picture of the bunch of ties I bought at the thrift store for 50 cents each. I don't know what I will do with them yet, but I felt the compulsion to buy them.

Well off to try another pair of overalls. The last pair I made was so huge I could be 12 months pregnant and they would still be too big. ARRGGHHH


Later
Lauri

Beaded RR- Carol's Block

Hello All

I am involved in a Beaded RR on CQI, all the seams are supposed to be beaded.
The top pic is of the block after Leslie's work when I got it. Don't you love the peacock? The next 2 are of my work. The feather took about 8 -10 hours
I hope Jo doesn't mind I snitched her pics of my work, my camera was set to internal memory and then I couldn't transfer to my computer, ( couldn't be one of 2 young girls played with it do you think?)

More sewing to do

Later
Lauri