.....it all began with one thread....















Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Triangles and Flowers

A little more love, Love Entwined, that is:

Finally have all those triangles, or cones, all attached.  The little flowers seemed to go much quicker than those.  Now onward to the star flowers!  Meanwhile, I am piecing the zig-zag border together.  I will applique that in place once they are complete.

Monday, July 22, 2013

Annabelle the Doll

What?? Another Annabelle doll?  But...this one is a bit different.  She is much bigger, probably about 15" when she is all stretched out.  Her arms and legs are jointed this time, so she is posed a bit more easily.
She is a 'preview' of her new adventures in something else I have in the works for her.


This Annabelle is my version of a sort of  "Annabelle in Wonderland."  A cross between the March Hare and the Mad Hatter....(she is not holding the watch charm I have for her yet).  She is wearing a red-buttoned vest, a pretty little shirt with buttoned cuffs, and armbands with a scalloped felt collar.  She also has a red checkered skirt with the checkered band to match her hat.  And...spats!  Yes, I know, they are usually for men..but they are in my original sketch, so I decided to make them for her. 

I made her wool felt hat entirely by hand.  It is very similar to the Mad Hatter's in that it is a Wellington-style hat.  (Had to look that up..as well as a pattern to make it, or at least what the pattern looked like and adapted it to her size.)  It has the price tag, some ribbon roses, and funny little bird stick pin (on the hidden side) and some ribbons hanging from the back. 

I had so much fun creating this version of Annabelle. Hope she brings a big smile to your face.  I know she makes me smile each time I look at her.

Annabelle Hatter will be paying a visit in a new quilt sometime soon!

** For those who have asked...I have a few printed patterns of some older things for Annabelle and Mousie.  However, I have not made any new ones, as yet.  Contact me privately at xstitchalley@comcast.net for a bit more info.**

Thanks!



Saturday, July 20, 2013

Love Entwined - Little Flowers

And here they are!  They look pretty big here....but those guys are little!  I decided to make my stems with side-by-side stem stitches using 2 ply floss.  They stems were stitched before the circles and triangles were stitched own, so that the beginning and end go beneath the applique piece.

The tiny leaves were made using a "v" shape, rather than making tiny, individual leaves.  I then stitched the stem stitches over the leaves, making them look like two separate leaves.  And...I redid my little circles around the compass.  I still used the wool felt, but made them smaller, and attached them with a blanket stitch done with one-ply floss.

Thanks for taking time to visit!  I always enjoy reading every one's comments :)

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Busy, busy...

I feel like the little bee flitting from flower to flower with all my different ongoing projects.:)
Here's one:  Block 1 of Chateau Hexagons by.Lynette Anderson Designs.

I have also made the Mini-Block 4, Part of Block 1, of Mrs. Beasley, by Leanne Beasley .  Anne Marieke, my friend, and Jacqueline of Samsara Quilt Shop, Netherlands, chose the fabrics for me.  I wanted to step outside my usual choices of colors, so asked them to help me.  They were both kind enough to do so for me, and I love their choices!

I am showing both photographs.  One where everything is waiting to be stitched, and the other where it is all stitched.  The top picture shows the colors more realistically.  A cute block for a very nice little quilt.

Esther has released Part 2 of Love Entwined, which is now taking up the majority of my time.  Lots of discussion in her Yahoo group and tons of great WIP pictures.  Become a member of her group and check it out. :)


Wednesday, July 10, 2013

What have I been doing?

In between working on Love Entwined and a few of my other BOM's, I have been working on a lot of small blocks to create the latest Annabelle adventure.  I wanted to challenge myself and limit the color choices to blacks, tans, creams and rust.  However, the rust color is only wool or flannel (the flowered, rust-colored portions).  Difficult? It wasn't as hard to do as I thought it might be.  It was actually quite liberating, in that I did not worry about bringing so many different colors and hues into play.

The second part of my personal challenge was to use hexagons, but a bit differently than, say Grandmother's Flower Garden where the hexies are all joined together.  There are a lot of different size hexagon flowers, a few hexagon cactii and hexie bees! ;)  And...lots of pottery waiting for new flowers to be planted. :)



Here's a bit of a closer look at what is the main portion of the quilt.  I have to make the outer borders for it to finish it off.


Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Love Entwined....again!

OK...just too addicting already.  I don't know what happened!  I usually do not do this, but something called me to make a second Mariner's Compass for Love Entwined! 

A quick peek...the little circles are not sewn down yet, but you can see the overall choices I made.  I haven't posted a picture of this one on the group yet...waiting to finish making the rest of those tiny circles!

Very nautical, don't you think?