CQJP July Block

Saturday, July 31, 2010

1:1 Round Robin CQ Square (long and pic heavy)

I finally finished my 1:1 RR CQ square! Yay!
But first, another picture of my favourite garden rose. ( I'm sure you're tired of it, but I had to share anyway. Last one, I promise! )       
The frills, the colours, the shadows, the glow.....I just loved the whole composition.







And my hydrangea is in flower.


I had shown you this tease a couple posts ago, and promised to show you more when I had finished. The clusters of flowers were tatted with Josephine knots : the leaves with Josephine chain (for lack of a better term), and the trunk with layers of twisted thread woven over and through a straight stitch base. The threads used were: Caron's Wildflowers in 'Tropic Seas' and 'Blue Lagoon' , DMC cotton perle 5 in a light turquoise, dark turquoise metallic thread.
This is a Round Robin CQ Square that I've been doing for NickiLee of NickiLee's Raviolee Dreams ( http://cqnickilee.blogspot.com/ ) who has a wonderful blog and creates the most beautiful hand-dyed laces. Her CQ squares are outstanding! I met her when I joined CQ International, and we made a swap: my tattings for her laces. She sent me her CQ square at the end of May. Talk about being in over my head!

I was so excited, I started working on it before I remembered to take a pic. Aren't the colours and the materials just gorgeous?  My favourite is the mottled blue/green/pink triangle on the left. I've always liked turquoise, in fact my little Honda is turquoise, but after working on this square, I think I love turquoise. I used my hand-cut stamps to mark some designs on the fabric, and decided to work with the circles and curves in the existing patterns. The theme NickiLee chose was 'Winged Garden Visitors'. I loved it.
I felt, though, that the cream material was such a contrast to the blues and greens, and wondered how to make it more harmonious with the other colours. I liked the touch of pink, but decided the ugly avocado greens in the busy pattern just clashed.
So, work with the theme, and circles, my stamps, incorporate cream elsewhere, and tone down that green. And, I wanted to try not to create a pictorial square, but rather have my embellishments all around. Hunh! Where to start? I began creating a sun, and a large allium.        I won't take you through each step. I'll show some close-ups of embellishments, and the completed square.                                 Here's a  dragonfly tatted  with Caron's  Wildflowers 'Tropic Seas', and beaded with turquoise crystals in the tail.
Picking up the soft pink and working with the creams and circles, I embroidered the leaf spray, added clusters of Josephine knot flowers in Yarnplayers HDT 'peace' in size 40. Then beads were added in groups and sprays, and a pink, glittery ladybug was perched among the flowers.
This butterfly was embroidered on another fabric, stitched onto the square and stuffed with fiberfill. Is that called trapunto? This allowed me to carry some yellow into the other materials. The antennae are tatted with a double strand of black floss, and are flexible, attached only at the black crystal bead head.
This is another close-up of the 'tree of life' in front of the circle sun motif, and also shows a button spray in all the main colours of the square, sitting on the cream seam.
The last two photos are different shots of the completed square. I am pleased with the individual motifs and embellishments I added. Visually, the eye does tend to follow the elements around the square, but I am not sure that harmony of the colours was attained. What do you think?     I did cover up some of that avocado green with a gathered turquoise ribbon, formed into a flower. The centre is a  translucent,'sugar', domed button.
I added the following winged garden visitors: 3 bumblebees, 2 butterflies, 1 dragonfly, 1 hoverfly, 2 ladybugs. As a fan of pictorial squares (I think that's the term used when there is a definite top and bottom to the square, but, I could be wrong) I am a little disappointed with my design, and think the elements might have worked better as a whole had they been placed differently. Do you agree? 
Well, all in all, as this is only my third CQ square, I don't absolutely love it. I don't hate it either. Both good and bad points are obvious, and made more so by seeing the completed square on the screen. I do hope, though, that NickiLee will like it, in spite of all its flaws. 
Here's hoping you all have a safe and happy long holiday weekend.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

12 comments:

  1. Oh, it's just marvelous! Yes, it is just amazing. I'm just sure she will be thrilled & love it too.

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  2. Oh thanks, Bsotf, you are so kind with your comments. I hope you are right, and that NickiLee loves her square.

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  3. Tremendous work! I especially love the tatted dragonfly... I love dragonflies.... thanks for visiting my blog and becoming a follower, I have added your blog to my list. Hugs.

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  4. Wonderful work I love CQ all these beautiful embroidery, thanks for nice comment on my Erision Art book.
    Anni

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  5. Thank you, Heather, for your comments, and for adding me to your list. Fab! Say, if you love the tatted dragonfly, maybe we can do a trade?
    Hugs from Suz

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  6. Thanks Anni for stopping by. I was just wondering about erosion art and CQ, and whether or not anyone had combined the two. Your book is beautiful. Can you imagine an erosion art CQ? All those earth tones would be fantastic, I think! And rusty embroidery? Hmmmmmmm.....

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  7. Your CQ block is very pretty! I like the dragonfly. Thank you for your comment on my first tatting. I visited the page you suggested and I think it's very helpfull, but not the online classes, since I live in the Netherlands! I'm already looking for the tatting needles too. Can you tell me which sizes are usefull?

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  8. Thank you Annet. The dragonfly was inspired by Shirley Hill's pattern. I guess the online classes would be happening in the middle of your night: I hadn't thought of that, but, if you joined, you could still access the chat room at your convenience. As for needle size, it really depends on the thickness of thread you prefer to use. When I first started, I used thicker thread, and needed the larger needle. Now I use threads size 20-100, so have a variety of sizes. They can usually be purchased in a multi-pack, so then you have more choices of thread sizes. I've even purchased the long, thin needles for doll making, and sanded down the sharp point to make them blunt for using when I couldn't find my fine one. I think the multi-pak is more economical as well. Have you found a source for the needles?
    You can email me at susancuss@yahoo.com if you'd like more info, or if you have any questions.Happy tatting!

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  9. Yipee! I think I finally got in to post!

    Ohhhhhh how can I ever thank you for making me such a gorgeous block - I can hardly wait for it to come in the mail. I want to thank you so much for swapping with me and look forward to our next 1 on 1. Your work is simply gorgeous and I love every stitch - thank you! thank you!

    I've signed up as a follower and also added you to my Favorites so now I can watch every stitch you make!

    Big hugs from Massachusetts!

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  10. Oh NickiLee, I am so thrilled that you like your block! And just so pleased that you signed up as a follower! I'm looking forward to our next swap too! I'm doing the happy dance!

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  11. I think that you ahve done a wonderful job with this CQ square. I love your tatting!!!

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  12. Thank you so much Elizabeth! I'm a recent CQ convert, so I'm learning as I go. It's a lot of fun, and I like being able to add my tatting to the squares. Thanks for your visit. Hugs

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