BEES, BUTTERFLIES & BEETLES I

Bugs and insects and the like may seem an unusual subject for a crazy quilt round robin, but traditionally butterflies and beetles were “regulars” in vintage crazy quilts.   They were, of course, not as frequently stitched as the good luck spider, but were popular nonetheless.  This round robin was organized to practice and showcase the stitchers’ talent for stumpwork.  Stumpwork is generally defined as embroidery raised from the surface of the work to give it a 3-D effect.  Often it is stitched separately and then attached to the base piece (which, in this case is the block).  Our stitchers, as you will see, came up with many clever variations to depict bees, butterflies, beetles and other charming little bugs and critters.

The accomplished stitchers in this round robin were Diane M. (Canada), Cathy L (USA), Arlene (Australia), Janet (USA) and Meg (Uruguay).  

CATHY  L’S  BLOCK

Cathy’s Naked Block

Diane’s work on Cathy’s Block

Work by Janet

Arlene’s beetle - front view

Arlene’s beetle - back view

Cathy’s block with Meg’s work - Completed

DIANE’S BLOCK  

Diane’s Naked Block

Janet’s work

Diane’s block after Meg’s work

Arlene’s Beetle & ribbon trail

Entire block after Arlene’s work

Diane’s completed block after Cathy L’s work

ARLENE’S BLOCK

Arlene’s Naked Block

Beetle and flower by Cathy L

Bees and flowers by Cathy L

Butterflies and flower by Cathy L

Parade of beetles by Diane.  Bees and a butterfly, too!

Janet added lovely floral work and a big blue butterfly

After Meg’s additions in upper right and lower left,
here is Diane’s completed block

MEG’S BLOCK

Meg’s Naked Block

Stumpwork bee by Arlene

Another one of Arlene’s great stumpwork beetles

Meg’s block after Arlene

Lovely floral by Cathy L

More work by Cathy 

Meg’s block after Arlene and Cathy

Diane did this seam.  It’s a variation of (what else?) the FLY stitch

Beaded butterfly by Diane

Another seam and butterfly by Diane

Meg’s completed block

JANET’S BLOCK

Janet’s Naked Block

Beetle by Meg

Janet’s Block after Meg

Work by Arlene

Janet’s block after Meg and Arlene

Cathy L’s Work

Beaded butterfly by Diane

More butterflies by Diane

“The Showdown”  as playfully titled by Diane.  Great bugs!

Dianes block completed.
The ladies left room for Janet to add her final touches.

Contest Winners

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in our contest and spread the word about Crazy Quilting International and our blog.  A special thanks to all our new followers!


Based on the contest rules and the number of followers at the end of yesterday, September 15 (there were 139), we are giving away THREE prize packages.


The winners are, in order of selection:

PegSue

Carol Steemson

Ritva Peltola

CONGRATULATIONS!!  

Ladies, please send us an email with CQI CONTEST WINNER in the message title giving us your mailing address.  Send your email to:  catkiz@xmission.com.  We will get your prizes mailed out to you ASAP.

And, watch for our next post (in the next day or two) of our recently completed stumpwork round robin entitled “Bees, Butterflies & Beetles I”  (yes, there is also a BB&B II). 


Sincere thanks from the CQI Moderators,
Kerry
Leslie
Hideko
Cathy

Giveaway Reminder

We want to remind you that the deadline to enter our CQI Giveaway is this Wednesday, September 15.  All you have to do to enter is become a follower of this blog!   We are giving away one prize package for every 25 followers over the 50 we started with ... So, right now we are giving away THREE prize packages.  Here’s a sample of what you could receive (two are identical to this; others will be similar in content).


The first part of the package is fabrics and laces

The second part of the package is buttons, beads,  ribbon and miscellaneous bling!

Winners will be announced on Thursday, September 16!  We hope you join us!

Christmas-Winter DYB 2009 - 2010

This Christmas-Winter DYB (Do Your Own Block) Round Robin began in late 2009 and finished up in late Spring 2010.  The talented stitchers who took part were:  Rose Anne, Rita, Margreet, Karrin and Lisa. Usually there are six participants in a DYB, but this time there were only five.  Therefore, as the blocks came around to each stitcher, they not only stitched one complete block, but also 1/4 of another “joint” or “shared” block.  That way, when the blocks returned home to the owner, five of six blocks were complete and she just had one to stitch on herself to complete the set.


There was also a second Christmas-Winter DYB that finished in summer this year, and we hope to get that posted for you in October sometime.  In both these round robins, each participant was able to choose either Christmas OR Winter as their theme.  We’re confident you’ll not only enjoy the lovely stitching, but perhaps find a lot of useful Holiday ideas for yourself.    Here we go ...


KARRIN’S BLOCKS

Karrin’s Naked Blocks

The original blocks were lost, and below is a photo of the replacement blocks.  

Rita’s Block for Karrin

Close-up of Rita’s lace and stitched tree

Lisa’s work for Karrin

Margreet’s block

Rose Anne’s Block

This is the joint block that Lisa, Margreet, Rita and Rose Anne all stitched on.

The finished blocks (minus Rita’s which was one of the lost ones)

LISA’S BLOCKS

Lisa’s Naked Blocks

Block by Margreet

Block by Rose Anne

Block by Karrin

Block by Rita

This was the joint block worked on by Karrin, Margreet, Rita and Rose Anne

Lisa made the blocks into a bell pull

Top of the bell pull featuring Rose Anne’s block and the joint block

Middle of the bell pull with blocks by Rita and Karrin

Bottom of the bell pull with blocks by Margreet and the one that Lisa herself did

The bell pulled rolled up for easy storage.

MARGREET’S BLOCKS

This is Block #3, Naked

Block #3, stitched by Rita

Block #4, Naked

Rose Anne’s work on Block 4, partial

Another view of Rose Anne’s completed Block 4 for Margreet

Margreet’s Block #5, naked

Block 5 was stitched by Karrin

Block #6

Block #6 was stitched by Lisa

This is a naked Block #1; it became a joint block that everyone worked a little bit on. 

Block  1 (joint block) completed.  Work by Karrin, Rose Anne, Lisa and Rita

This was the final block.

Margreet herself stitched on it when the blocks returned home to her

These are the six blocks together (before Margreet finished hers).

RITA’S BLOCKS

Rita’s Naked Blocks

Naked block - before

Same block, AFTER work by Lisa

Block stitched by Margreet

Close-up of Margreet’s flower

This was the block that Rose Anne stitched

Karrin stitched this block

This was the joint effort block for Margreet
Stitched by Rose Anne, Rita, Karrin and Lisa

ROSE ANNE’S BLOCKS

Rose Anne’s naked blocks

This block was stitched by Karrin

Rita stitched this block for Rose Anne

Here is Lisa’s block for Rose Anne

Margreet’s block

This was the joint block stitched by Margreet, Lisa, Rita and Rose Anne

Rose Anne’s completed blocks (except the one left for her to do!).