Our Crazy Quilt group decided to do a group challenge for the next quilt show. We all chose to do something you'd find in a village. I chose a candy store. Not something easy, like a park or garden. A candy store... Then, that morphed in to a Gingerbread House because I don't know how to make a candy store.
I have a love/hate relationship with every crazy quilt project I've ever done. I love the embellishing but I hate the construction. I forgot to leave a 1/4 inch seam allowance while embellishing a few of the blocks and ended up having a terrible time putting them together. Again..
I ordered that Santa and Sleigh pin from England. I wove the gum drops. The tree lace is cut off of a bigger piece. the background is hand dyed by me and the wool was a generous donation by Dana D. Speaking of donations, most of the fabrics were collected from my super generous friends in the CQ group.
The button snowman is one of my favorite elements and then I cut off his hat with my seam allowance! Dang it.
I used my books by Kathy Shaw to inspire my seam treatments.
Lots of Etsy purchases for candy beads and nutcracker button.
I don't want to contemplate the cost of the embellishments I purchased.
A final shopping spree at Hobby Lobby last weekend garnered more bits and bobs. I wove the poinsettia as well. I still need to tack everything to the back, "quilt it". So the puffy seams should flatten a bit after that. And hopefully, help with the wonky shape but I think my expectations on that are err on the side of realistic...
My snowman sequin is from a few years ago. I like to think he's shrugging, "Well, it's not perfect, but it's done."
I really like the rhinestone tree. the clear snowflake button is from about ten years ago.
With that, I bid you adieu. In the coming weeks I hope to go through my UFOs and hammer out a few of them. I've been itching for new projects but haven't allowed myself because I already felt buried in projects. I'm not on lay off but I do have an extra day off or two every week and hope to not waste them!
I love it! So many fun little details to discover everywhere you look. Of course you know CQ is my first love so of course I'm going to like this. (a wee hint re seam allowances around the outside.....when you're creating a block always piece it about 1" larger on all sides than what you want your finished block to be. Before you start stitching and embellishing, run a line of basting around the block on the seam line. Then, when you're embellishing, you will know to stop when you reach that basted line. Another benefit to this method is that having that extra inch all around will allow for any distortion through the stitching process. When you're finished embellishing, simply square up your block to the size you want. Hope this helps!!)
ReplyDeleteThank you! I hope to remember your advice on the next project!
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