I scanned the card to my computer and then printed the picture on white polyester satin. I did not treat the fabric in any way and found out that if the printed picture got wet the picture would disappear. I had a trial picture so I put it under water and the ink just more or less slid right off the fabric. Any other pictures I print will be on cotton or silk that has been treated with Bubble Jet 2000. Also learned that my printer will print on fabric with absolutely no problem.

My ‘naked’ block ready to be sent on a journey across the USA.

This is the center block after one of the ladies embellished the picture. I LOVE her embellishments. But now I am unhappy with those four white triangles that just jump right off the block and they are all I can see. I would love to have suggestions as to what I can do to hide them. I have one idea that I like but am afraid that it requires more artistic talent than I have. All suggestions will be appreciated. If the center block was not surrounded by beautiful embroidery on the seams, I would add colored patches to the four triangles. It is interesting that my scanner shows the colors much truer than my digital camera.

And last is the block with the work done by the other four ladies in the round robin. Now I have to decide what I want to do with the three blank patches in addition to those distressing white triangles. Of course I will have to put a piece of that lace that has been put on all the other blocks that I worked on. Did not put any on my first RR block but this block needs it.

I need to get busy and get my Christmas presents made so that I can finish this block and then make it and the first block into wall hangings.

I really enjoyed both CQ round robins that I participated in but don’t think that I will join another RR for I get stressed when I am working on a block that belongs to someone else and I don’t want stress in my life. And for those of us living on a fixed income, postage is getting way too expensive. Probably a better reason to not get involved in another round robin is that I have enough UFOs to keep me busy for the next five years. And I want to make some things for ME. I have given away every thing that I have ever made. Well I do have two samplers but they were made for my sons and I keep forgetting to give them to the kids so they can hang them in their homes. :O)

The fabric between the magnolias and daisies was printed with small flowers and I decided to do silk ribbon embroidery over them. That is a method of embroidery that I really like. There is a name for embroidering over printed motifs but right now I cannot think of it. Still had some of the lace motifs that I bought for my first round robin so dyed some pink but it did not dye as successfully as I wanted but used it anyway. :O) And then of course I have my signature heart in the upper corner.

This is the fourth and last block that I worked on. Again I used the lace motifs and added some pearls for pizzazz. I really liked that lace when I bought it but think maybe by now I am a little tired of it. Seems that I am putting magnolias on every block but this time I did an entire branch full of blooms.

In another one of my embroidery groups we have been discussing rick rack. It was used so much when I was a kid that I developed a great dislike for it. But then I saw the really pretty flowers that some of the ladies were making with the rick rack. Was in Wal-mart and saw some wide, gold metallic rick rack and decided to buy a package. Funny thing is that it seemed to be the perfect thing to put on this particular seam. At the top, to cover the raw edge, I put a hot pink glass heart but in the picture it looks lavender.

I am in another CQ RR with four ladies in the Crazy Quilting Sisters group. Below is a picture of the work I did on the first block that came to me.  The four white flowers are supposed to be magnolias on a limb but they still do not look as I wanted them to.  Maybe one day I will embroider one that will look realistic.  Must learn to do them correctly since they are the state flower of Louisiana.  Magnolias are beautiful but I do not like the smell and do not want a tree in my yard for they shed leaves all year long.

I dyed some lace pink to use on the block but when dry it was just too light.  So I added more dye and put the lace back in the solution.  Then it came out a gorgeous hot pink but just did not work with the burgundy of the block.  The only thing I could do then was head to the fabric store that has a bin of laces for half price.  After all I was working on a friend's block and needed the right lace.  I am great at rationalization.  :O)  The first piece of lace I picked up was this pink and it was perfect.  It is terrible when one has as much fabric and embellishing stash as I do and I still have to go out to buy something different.   

The second block shown below that I worked on took forever to speak to me.  I finally decided that I would just do a field of flowers on the patch that had a pattern that looked like blades of grass.  I saw this gorgeous picture in my creative mind but unfortunately it did not transfer to the block.  I liked the flowers but when I added leaves it seemed to have spoiled the look.  I have a feeling that I am going about it backwards and should put the leaves on first.  But I have tried that and it did not work for me either.  May have to just stick with magnolias for their leaves are all right.  I am trying so hard to get over being a perfectionist for all it does is cause unhappiness with what I do.  But at least I am not as bad as I used to be.  :O)

The lace I used on this block is the first that I bought when I started my first RR and it is from the same half price bin at the fabric store.   Have used it on nearly all the blocks I have worked on.  When I started doing CQ I just did not have any lace motifs that really spoke to me.  My rationalization at work again.  :O)

When I added the black patch with the gold design I had thought that when the block came back to me that I would do some highlighting on that patch but have about decided to leave it as is.  Putting gold thread over the gold already there would more or less be a wasted effort.  I did think about filling in the black on the flowers with red threads and the leaves with green threads.  Anyone have any suggestions or should I just leave it as is?

When my shoulder is completely healed I will be ready to take part in another CQ RR for this one was fun. 

After Thanksgiving I was able to finish the block and get it mailed to Janet and according to the tracking information for the package, she received it today.  I was happier with my work on this block than on any of the others.

This is the fourth block that I have worked on and I finally got up enough nerve to do some silk ribbon embroidery on the block.  When I saw a picture of the block before there was any embellishing, I had thought about doing something on the patch that is small squares and flowers.  However, when I received the block and saw the gorgeous tree that Marya had done I felt that the base of the tree needed some flowers.   Please do not ask me what kind of flowers they are for I more or less just made them up as I went along.  Unfortunately I could not put the block in my hoop so some of the flowers do not look exactly as I planned them to look.  That is my story and I am sticking to it.  :O)  For my seam embellishment I just used narrow lace and accented it with pearls.  I still have not decided if that lace is made up of flowers with four petals or stylized butterflies.  :O) 

This CQ block did not have a tiny patch just waiting for my signature heart so this time I just put it in with the bed of flowers.  I probably should have added some leaves and a stem and made it look like a flower but did not think of that until now when it is too late.  I should have embroidered grass around the flowers for the more I look at the picture the less I like the flowers just floating out there in space.  I will remember that next time.

One of my embroidery groups, Hand Embroidery, decided to have a heart swap and since I had never been involved in a swap I decided to take part.  I thought and thought about whether to make the heart a CQ one or just a plain one but I finally decided to go with a solid pink satin.  I would have used red but know there are lots of people who do not like red.  Don’t understand that since it is my favorite color.  :O) I had to search to find silk ribbon here in my neck of the woods in Louisiana but finally found some little packages at Hobby Lobby.  I can’t wait to have the money to buy ribbon on spools for pressing the ribbon is not a fun job.  I even melted a piece of one ribbon.  And then my son’s kitten ate a piece of another one.  For that she is banned from my studio.  :O)

Finally had all the ribbons pressed and ready to start my stitching.  I had decided to do a bouquet of flowers so my first step was to make a woven basket.  For that I did use red and made the basket of six strands of DMC.  I was so careful not to pull the warp thread too tight but then when I put in the weft threads the area was puckered.  I thought about taking it all out and then decided that I would not do that.  I am working hard to over come being a perfectionist.  Then like a dummy I started on the flowers on the left side forgetting that I should put stems first.  Needless to say I was unhappy with the look of the flowers.  I put in a few leaves and still was not happy.  About this time I was beginning to regret buying all those silk ribbon embroidery books from Amazon and thinking about returning them for I was sure that this type of embroidery was not for me.  Since I was feeling that way, I  took a break and had a snack.  In my opinion, food always helps a bad situation and helps clear the mind.  :O)

When I came back I started putting flowers in the middle and on the right side.  Things were looking up now and the flowers were looking better.  Like a dunce I still had not put in stems.  The first leaves I stitched I did not like so I put a flower over a group of them and that helped some.  Anyway I decided that it was time to put in the stems and more leaves.  It was the wee hours of the morning so instead of searching for a matching DMC green for the stems I just twisted the 4mm ribbon and made straight stitches for stems.  At that time I thought it looked fine but now after the heart is in Korea and I look at the picture the stems are really bad.  :O)  But I kept telling myself this was my first ever silk ribbon embroidery.  Added a few leaves and then added the last four flowers.

This heart was to be finished on the edges so I had done a very tight and narrow zigzag around the outside edge of the heart.  The original plan was to do the embroidery and then put a backing on and zigzag so that the backside of the stitches would be covered and the entire heart would look neater.  Well of course I forgot that and put the backing on first and did the stitching.  But when the heart is put on something the back will not show anyway.  Now that the embroidery was finished it was time to trim the heart very close to the zigzag stitches.  I actually did it without cutting the first stitch.

After the edge was trimmed, I needed to decide what lace or other edging I was going to use around the outside edge of the heart.   I probably tried six or seven different edgings before I finally found the one that I thought looked the best.  When I finally finished stitching the beaded lace around the edge it was about four in the morning and I was oh so tired.  But I had finished the heart and it would go in the mail later in the day. By the way I am the queen of leaving things until the very last minute. :O)  Had to set my alarm so that I would be up in time to get to the post office before three for at that time the clerk closes out for the day and then will only take cash.  Of course I had no cash but I make it on time and the heart was bound for Korea.

Now when I look at a picture of the heart I think that it looks pretty good but since I still have a tendency to be a perfectionist and also my own worst critic I can see every thing that is wrong with it.  Then I tell myself that after all it was my first attempt at silk ribbon embroidery.  It seemed that on every flower there would be one petal that would not cooperate and would end up more narrow that the other petals.  Two or three days after I had mailed the heart I was looking at two silk ribbon embroidery books written by two of the leading ladies in the field of crazy quilting and silk ribbon embroidery.  Guess what I saw?  You guessed it, there were flowers shown that also had a narrow petal when all the rest of the petals were perfectly shaped.  :O)  That made me feel a lot better about my little pink heart with silk ribbon embroidery flowers and their skinny petals.

One thing that that became very evident as I was working on the ribbon embroidery on the heart is that from now on when I do silk ribbon embroidery I will use an embroidery hoop.  In fact the next day I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a frame that one sits on thus leaving both hand free and with ribbon one does need both hands free.  :O)

And here is my little pink heart with crazy shaped flowers I did for my first swap.  All the hearts that have been done for this swap are beautiful and I can hardly wait to see which one I get back.  Forgot to mention that my little signature heart became a flower in the bottom left near the basket.  :O)

I had planned to do stitching with red thread on the black velvet seam but when I saw this trim I knew it was just the thing for I wanted some sparkle on the black.  Red, black and white is my favorite color combination and I was finally getting to use it on a block.  I checked with Sue first to be sure that she liked red.  :O)   Was wandering through Wal-Mart one day and ran across a bunch of pearl like little hearts so of course I had to purchase them.  In fact I have run across a lot of pretty little hearts on my trips through the craft and fabric stores so now I have quite a large stash of them.  Did not have a red heart so had to settle for a pink one on the tiny patch in this block.  All the blocks that I have worked on so far have had a tiny block that was just perfect for my signature heart.  On another stash shopping day I saw a package of charms that was all cats and just had to have this one since Sue is a lover of cats and this kitty needed a tag.  Did not put in the center to look like a tag on the cat for did not want to cover any of the pretty embroidery done by Marya.   The charm is attached in such a way that Sue can move it if she so desires.

When I bought the fabric I looked at the price on the end of the bolt and thought that is a great price for such beautiful fabric.   As I was looking at other fabric and AFTER the lady had cut the fabric, she called out the price, $16.98 a yard.  Thank goodness I was only buying one eighth of a yard.  When I had looked at the end of the bolt I had read $6.98.  Would have been in trouble if I had asked for a full yard.  These days I carefully look at the price before telling the salesperson how much to cut.

As I said earlier I am participating in my first round robin.  This is DeAnn's block and when I received it I probably spent two weeks just looking at it and thinking about what embellishments that I could do.  I had a small crocheted basket and since the center block was purple velvet, I decided that I would work on that section of the block.  I just could not get up enough nerve to do embroidery flowers to fill the basket so I went with beading flowers.  It did not matter that I have been doing embroidery for fifty plus years, I just could not start out on a block that did not belong to me.  The lace that I used I bought just for this RR but it was snow white and just did not go with the block.  After a quick dip in a cup of tea it was perfect.   Purple beads were added to the lace to tie it in with the purple velvet section.   In going through my stash I ran across a pretty heart button and since my signature is a heart I had to use the heart.   There was a tiny patch on the block and it just cried out for the heart so there is where I put it. 

When I received Marya's block I also spent time looking at it and thinking about what to do.  I just could not come up with anything except to embellish the floral printed circle in the center of the block.  I seem to like the center of things.  :O)   I decided to alternate pearls and French knots around the outside of the circle. I had finally learned to do a French knot so I could not resist doing them.  There was a narrow line around the circle so I covered that with backstitches.  I did not want to actually cover the printed flowers so I just did backstitches and straight stitches on the flowers, leaves, and vase.  Also did more French knots.  After finally learning how to do them I was going to use them every chance possible.  The pink beads on the white lace were the exact color of the rose to the left of the lace, but after the beads were on the lace they did not seem to match as perfectly.  As least that is the way they look to me.  This block also had a tiny patch so that is where my signature heart ended up.

I wanted to put pink embroidery stitches around the section with the circle but I still could not bring myself to jump in and do it.

All these years I could not make a decent French knot and then a few weeks ago I tried again and lo and behold I made a very nice looking one.   My problem was that I was taking the thread back down in the same hole or too close to the same hole and therefore I was just pulling the thread through to the back.  I wonder how anyone with my training in textiles and knowledge of embroidery could be so dense.   I owe my being able to now do a good French knot to Katie Jay and the stitch along she started in Lillian's Hand Embroidery online group.  I was looking at different stitches and saw the French knot once again and finally it clicked.  Thanks Katie.  Still having trouble with the Colonial knot. 

The other day I was looking through some of my books and ran across an embroidery book that has all the pictures/patterns done entirely in French Knots.  What is so funny is that I bought the book ten to fifteen years ago when I could not make a French Knot at all.  Guess I knew that one day I would learn.  However, I can't see myself doing an entire picture in knots.  That would take forever and a day.  But then just for the fun of it I might do a small picture.  If and when I do, I will be sure to post a picture on this blog.