This is my 2nd try at posting to my blog today...Hope this doesn't show up twice, but it probably will not. I lost my connection somehow and the whole post was lost.....Argh! This has taught me to always highlight and copy the text of my post before I click the post entry button! You might consider that a recommendation!
Late last night I finished all the embellishment on my
January Take It Further Challenge block. You may recall that I'm doing an 8 inch block every month using the colors (not the theme) that Sharon posts at the beginning of each month. I chose to do my blocks in the color theme in order to stretch my inner artist and learn to work with color combinations that I would never pick myself.
Since I purchased a lot of the discounted DMC floss when Wal-Mart put it up for sale for 10 cents, I am using that to match Sharon's color choices and then also to pull the fabrics for the block. I really like how this block turned out. I am also using the 5 chosen colors to do the basic seam stitches on each seam. After that, I will most likely use silk or cotton pearl for further layering of stitches. And, lastly, as some of you know, a block of mine is never finished until it's been beaded!
I also decided that each of my blocks will have the name of the month on it which will give me some practice wih my backstitching. The blocks will also each have a spider and web in the center and each will be different from the others. This should expand my web repertoire a bit. I may even try a few different threads from the one I always seem to use for the webs.
I will try to make my embellishments meaningful to the month as I am experiencing it. My January embellishments include a line of houses and trees because we spent the first week of January looking for a potential new home. New Years day is represented by some streamers and confetti on the top left. The confetti is actually printed on that fabric.
Since I have to use cotton fabrics for these blocks because my fancy fabrics are all still in storage awaiting our move, it gives me a chance to use some of the lovely Judith Baker Montano prints I purchased some time ago. In this block they are the center floral and the upper left confetti print.
At lower left you can see my bouquet of lavender. When I was feeling crummy one day in January, I looked out the window at the grey gloomy day and noticed that the lavender in our gardens was the ONLY thing blooming. It was a bright blue spot in a very drab garden.
Closeup pictures of the areas of this block can be seen in my Flickr photostream if you click on the above picture. I apologize for the less-than-normal quality of these pictures. When I took them it was very late at night and perhaps my camera was as tired as I was.
I've already begun to work on the embellishing of my February block. This morning I have stitched the basic seam treatments with the DMC and now am ready to move on to the month-appropriate embellishments. Month-appropriate things for this month are going to present very bit of a challenge as the colors! I already know I must include a daffodil since our daffodils came into full bloom her last week. And there must be birds because yesterday morning the robins and bluejays returned home to Hydrangea House. It is raining and blowing like mad today, but later we will be off to the store to buy new feeders to replace those we gave away last summer when we thought we'd be moving quickly. The new ones we will keep!
Stitch On!
