Crazy Pumpkin finished!

It took 7 months, but my crazy pumpkin is finally done-- and it is huge! 10" high, not including the stem, and 14" wide. It took two large bags of stuffing! Let's take the tour one last time go.

I like how the orange pops against the maroon fabric on this panel. And I love the buttonhole leaves. They are always my favorite.

Next is my first crazy panel. This was featured on the blog earlier. The only thing I added since then are the flower buttons and pearls to give it a bit more embellishment.

Other people's rosehips looked better than mine. I thought they would look spectacular on the cream, but they are rather boring.

Here is my second crazy panel. I didn't like how it was coming along before I began working on the seams, but the seams really made it fun for me.

I like the lace trim on the top seam. I wanted to do oyster stitch buds here, but after 6 tries, I decided that I need to practice more on a different piece. The trim, however, looks a lot like oyster stitch, so I am pleased. You can also just see my tribute to the new little prince peaking out from under the leaf!

Marigold orange against a field of blue. This panel turned out to be everyone's favorite, even though each person's marigolds were different. They did the leaves differently, had different beads for their lavender, or stacked their petals differently. It was fun to see how a single pattern can look so different.

The final panel was supposed to be composed of 2" blocks, but I didn't want to sew such small blocks since these fabrics frayed easily. I switched to 4" blocks and really like the results. The tree came from an out-of-print embroidery pattern book that is available as a free down load. It was recently featured on Mary Corbet's blog. I had been thinking about embroidering a tree on this panel and when I saw the pattern, I knew it was the one.

I added the sparkly leaves after my mother said that every pumpkin needed some.

 

So that's that. My pumpkin's done and it is time to concentrate on my Resolution projects!

 

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Pumpkin progress!

I was meaning to provide a progress report on my crazy pumpkin earlier in the week, but life conspired against me. First, my husband's plane came in 2 hours late (10:30 PM) and I spent the next two days in a sleep deprived daze. Then there was the 4th of July, which was fun, but during which I contracted food poisoning. Needless to say, all of this cut into both my embroidery and writing time.

 

I did, however, make loads of progress on the pumpkin last weekend. Every 5th Sunday of the month, my local Brazilian embroidery shop hosts a 6 hour open stitch in. I accomplished a lot that day. And I was feeling well enough to go to the guild this Saturday as well, so I can report that the center motifs on my second crazy panel are almost done!

 

Many of these motifs are loosely taken from the pattern. These include the bee, wheat shafts, acorns, oak leaf and pumpkins. Most are done in simple stem stitch outlines, with maybe a few additional stitches--such as the lazy daisies on the wheat. The wheat was fun, because I used two different variegated threads. I like the strip of unstitched leaf. Sometimes it is just as important to know when to stop stitching, as to know which stitch to use.

 

The bee is satin stitch in boucle to give him some dimension. The acorns are boring stem stitch, but I tried to liven them up with color.

 

One of the people stitching along on this project poured beads down the side of her pumpkin. It really looked so lovely encrusted like that, but I don't do random very well (just look at my stars!), so I decided to liven my pumpkins up with some drizzle vines. I wasn't sure at first, but I think they turned out well.

 

The leaf again is just stem stitch. The final rose motif is adapted from my crazy patchwork pillow. I don't like how they are turning out. They aren't crisp and beautiful like the ones on my crazy pillow. I just can't remember how we adapted that motif. I may take them out, or may not.

I am not going to stitch a central motif on the top magenta patch. You won't be able to see much of it once the pumpkin is sewn together. Instead, I will concentrate on the seam stitches there and maybe make them a little more elaborate than elsewhere.

 

I am getting close. If I can find time to stitch while my husband is in town, I should be ready for finishing class at the end of the month!

 

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Crazy pumpkin deadline extended

It turns out that I am not the only one who was having difficulty finishing my pumpkin by June! With six panels, six month was just not enough time to piece and stitch the whole pumpkin before the finishing class. So I got a reprieve. Finishing class will be next month. But, having a deadline did inspire me to get more done. I finished two of the three all-over embroidered motifs and made headway on the third. I started the crazy panel as well, but I will save that for next week, since I hope to make more progress by then.

These marigolds were done with felt, beads and Cosmo stranded floss. Not well executed, but done. I certainly need to practice curves!

I like my execution of the rosehips better. I may add a yellow bead on each fruit to make it a little less dull.

Autumn will represent sunflowers--although they don't really look like sunflowers on finished pieces I've seen. More work to do here. I am split between doing felt or beaded centers. Another thing to practice is obviously back stitch! I ought to do some sort of sampler when I am done to practice these basic stitches!

 

Somehow I just haven't found this project that enjoyable. It should have been, but I am itching to try a real crazy quilt block. A few of the women in my guild have decided that that is what they want to do to. So starting in August, they propose to turn pumpkin class into a crazy quilt group, where different people provide instruction on different techniques that they have learned and can apply to crazy quilting. I hope that other people taking this class decide to keep on stitching. I can't wait to get more involved!

 

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Crazy pumpkin update

April 6 was the last time that I showed you measly progress on my crazy pumpkin. I swore then that I would step up my stitching so that I could complete my pumpkin along with the rest of my guild in June. Well, the bad news is that it is May and I only have one of six panels done. The good news is I HAVE A PANEL DONE! So let's take a look.

 

Here is the whole panel. It measures about 18.5" x 9", including some fabric for trimming. I did not use a single one of the pattern motifs. I think that was laziness--I just didn't feel like tracing them! You can see that I have been using EdMar Brazilian threads, and I think the sheen looks great with the rich fabrics. I won't use rayon on everything, but I'm glad I did here. Since this is a stash busting project, it just made sense. Now let's look more closely.

 

I think that this is my favorite block. The spider is simply made up of a large round bead and two small beads plus some couched threads, but he looks scary--and the bead changes from brown to red depending on how the light hits him, which is even scarier. The web is couched threads and straight stitches.

 

The moon and stars were a late night inspiration. I didn't want another outline, but neither did I want to spend a long time stitching a motif, so I appliquéd the felt moon and put some straight stitch stars in the sky. I like him.

 

My coffee cup was done the last time we looked at this project, but up close you can see the woven detached chain stitches. So easy and so cute! You can also tell that my cats have been sleeping on this project. I'm not sure how I will get all the hair out, but it is fruitless to try until it is sewn up.

 

At our last pumpkin class, we all tried to think of scary, fall motifs for our pumpkins. That is when I thought of the owl eyes. The eye balls are actually made out of the same beads as the spider with little gold bead irises. The seam stitch is button hole with lazy daisy stitches, beads, and detached buttonhole along the base. The daffodils are woven pickets--something I always wanted to try.

 

I've been drawing rabbits like this one since I was in grammar school. My grandfather was an artist. He gave me some tips on how to draw bunny legs and I have been doing the same thing ever since. The bunny is stem stitched with boucle. I LOVE the carrot seam done with straight stitches and drizzles. It was another late night inspiration. The other seam is scalloped buttonhole chain stitch. See Mary Corbet's excellent tutorial on this stitch!

 

So, one panel done, five more to go. At least there is only one more crazy panel. Three panels each have all over motifs and the sixth is patchwork block. I won't finish by June, but I will keep plugging away. I am getting excited about finishing so that I can plan a real crazy quilt!

 

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Great expectations and unfortunate cancellations

The last few weeks have been tough. It seems things are being cancelled left and right, which sure does hamper my stitching. I'm still accomplishing things, but not much on my major projects.

 

First, there have been six babies born to friends and family and one more expected between January and May of this year. Such a lot of joy! But my sewing machine has been working overtime.

 

This weekend was the last baby shower back in Massachusetts. It was for my step daughter-in-law. But was I there? No. A last minute change in my husband's work plans meant that he is out of town on a two week business trip during the same two weeks I was going to be home. The trip was cancelled, but the presents made it in time.

 

Rather than a baby blanket, I decided to use my blanket technique to make practical burp cloths. I made a total of 6, using Carol's Cats for patterns. They are about 1 x 2 feet and a triple layer of flannel. Here are just a few with the cats on the front, and some wary mice hiding out over the shoulder

 

Since my perception of babies is that they are pretty messy, I also made some cute bibs. The pattern is from the blog site "Craftiness is not Optional." They were easy and so cute. I used a 1/2 yard of flannel and three packages of binding to make 3 bibs.

My step son and daughter-in-law are both martial artists, hence the Lucky Cat theme for these bibs.

 

Keeping with the cat theme, I also made this cute stuffed cat from McCall pattern 4893. But beware! The pattern calls for gluing on the head, ears and feet. It made me laugh. I figured that wouldn't even last the trip home, let alone a baby's grip, so I altered the pattern to be able to securely machine sew the feet and ears and then hand sew on the head--all of my experience making Cabbage Patch dolls when I was in Junior High paid off there!

 

My mom plunged into baby mode too. Isn't this the most precious sweater? She mailed it from New York to Colorado and then I mailed it back to Massachusetts. What a whirlwind! But I know that many homemade knits have been coming in for that lucky baby from all over the country. Babies just bring out the best in everyone.

Sadly, the fact that I am not back in Massachusetts means that there will be no progress on the WELCOME until I go home in June. I am going to start a small Brazilian kit in the meantime.

 

If missing my step daughter-in-law's shower wasn't bad enough, March's Pumpkin class was cancelled because of snow! Of course, this being Colorado, the day after Pumpkin class was almost 60 degrees. I made progress despite the cancellation, but not as much as I would have if I were stitching with the group. I WILL finish this panel by the end of April--I have to if there is any hope of finishing the project in June.

The coffee beans are woven detached chain stitch from Sharon B's TAST (Take a Stitch Tuesday) challenge.

 

So snow, work, and baby bumps have slowed progress on my major projects. But honestly, it has also been a lot of fun working on those baby gifts!

 

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Stitching together--pumpkin class

Stitching today is a solitary enjoyment.  We work in our living rooms or sewing rooms with tv and audiobooks for company.  It wasn't always that way.  Prior to tv, women would stitch for entertainment and stitch in groups. Those quilting bees may have been practical, but they sure sound like fun too.

Guilds and classes provide the camaraderie that can inspire us today and help us expand our stitching repertoire.  I am lucky to be a member of a great Brazilian embroidery guild that meets once a month. Unfortunately, I am not working on the guild project for this year--an ambitious Christmas sampler. I had too may other projects already begun.

But, I missed working on a communal project, so I signed up for pumpkin class. We are using a Crabapple Hill pattern with a variety of surface embroidery techniques. Pumpkin class will last six months. In January we  learned how to paper piece the crazy quilt panels.  February through May we will stitch and in June we will assemble the pumpkins.

I've always wanted to work on a crazy quilt, but this is my first attempt. Instead of cotton, I'm using a combination of real and synthetic satins and velvet. I probably will design my own motifs in addition to using some of the ones in the pattern.  That's the fun of going crazy!  I'm not expecting it to be a masterpiece, but I do hope to build on some skills that I developed during our last guild project--a crazy quilt Brazilian pattern. It was a project I adored. I'll feature it next week and update you with more on the pumpkin as I make progress.

Happy stitching!