by Glynda Black
 |
This is another of my oriental crazy quilt blocks. This is the whole block. When I do a crazy quilt block, I try to find something to act as a center for the block. In this case it was one of the figures on a Ming Maiden print. |
 |
Because this print was so beautiful, I decided to just embellish around the edges of it. On both the left and right sides of the Ming Maiden, I embroidered one of my own leafy vines from my machine. Then in the spaces between the vines, I inserted my ellow silk ribbon roses with centers of seed beads. At the bottom of this block, there's a curving vine that I did in three parts. I stitched the vine in green. Then I went back and added the blue flowers. At the tips of the stamens, I did hand embroidered French Knots. To the left of the Maiden is a print of fans. I embellished these with hand stem stitch and straight stitch, and along the top of each fan, I stitched colorful seed beads. To the right of the Maiden, I pieced a beautiful leaf print. I decided this would be a good place to put my 9mm ladybug. In the upper right of this photo is a spider web with a spider dangling off of it. The spider is another of my 9mm designs. You'll be able to see the web better in another photo. |
 |
Under the Ming Maiden is a piece of dark green fabric with green and gray leaves on it. I decided this would be a good place to use a hoop embroidery I found free somewhere on the Internet. This little fan is delicate, and seemed to belong to the Ming Maiden. After I got it stitched, I hand embroidered a stem stitched vine across the surface of the fabric and then I did some silk ribbon leaves along it. Some bullion roses made by hand completed the vine. There are buds here and there, and I used several different threads to get the variations in the color of the roses. I liked to add embroidery on top of prints. It's often subtle, and you have to look twice to see it. I like to leave my viewer with little surprises here and there. You'll notice a little line of butterflies along the left side of the roses piece. |
 |
Here's a better picture of the little line of butterflies. These are another 9mm design of mine. The variegated thread stitches first. Then I go back and add the little black bodies of the butterflies. The red block was a good place to use a pretty fan button I found. I put a spray of bullion roses and leaves around it. To the far left, you'll see part of an iris design I did on my machine. This is a maxi design, and I love using variegated thread with it. |
 |
Here you can see more of the iris design. You'll note I added a little 9mm butterfly to the design. Along the left side of the irises is a design on the seam of two sizes of fans. Some are open, and some are closed. In the very corner at the left was a print of irises, so I added some of the same butterflies there. |
 |
Here's the piece with the
spider and web on it. The spider web was stitched with straight
stitches in metallic silver. Hanging from it is a black
spider. It's difficult to see on this dark print, but he's on the
green fabric just a little below the point of the rosy print. The
spider is another 9mm design of mine.
|
 |
I thought any Maiden ought to have some cats. So along one seam are some 9mm kitties. They are stitched in variegated orange thread. They have their backs to us, but their tails are flipping around. There's a bow around the neck of each cat. To the left is one of my little snails. The flowers to the right are embroidered by machine. There's a bead in the center of each flower. |
(c) 2005 by Glynda Black. All Rights Reserved.