I Love Mermaids!

When sign ups were announced for an Under Water Scene (UTS) 6x6 RR on CQI, I immediately jumped in as I love the ocean and everything related to it. Of course the color blue has a lot to do with it along with mermaids and all the other creatures of the sea. I received Carolyn's naked block about 2 weeks ago and finally had some time to sit and sew last night. I completed it just about an hour ago. I showed Rob and he said "you aren't seriously thinking of giving that away?" Had to tell him it wasn't my block to keep... that a RR is when you embellish someone elses block and then mail it off to the next person. Have to admit that this is one block I would love to keep... hey Carolyn... how much do you love me? (wink wink)

The minute I saw the landscape of her block I knew what I wanted to do. I cut out a beautiful little mermaid out of some cotton fabric my friend Elaine gave me and then dyed up an awesome dolphin lace motif (one of my favorites) and off I went into CQ never never land.



When Rob and I got married (Maui 2004) we spent a day swimming with the dolphins. We had originally gone out on a kayak trip but half way out the couple that was with us decided they didn't want to go - the old hippie that was giving us the tour decided to take them back to shore and let Rob and I continue on our way as we had told him we've been kayaking for quite a few years. (There was NO way I was going back LOL!) About an hour out we came up on a pod of dolphins (about 20+) just playing around We jumped in and they gave us a show that we will never forget. The mamma dolphins were playing with their babies and swimming right next to us all the while jumping and spinning in the air. OMG! The beautiful music that they were singing under the water was something we will never forget. This went on for about an hour until a tour boat came by and idled and watched us play.... slowly the dolphins swam away. So.... this block that I made for Carolyn is in remembrance of that beautiful day and wonderful experience.

Mermaid Crazy Quilt Purse - Love it!

Yea! I can finally post pictures of my most favorite CQ project. About 3 months ago I entered my very first contest - a CQ purse contest held by the CQI Group. With all the things I have created over the years, I have never entered anything into a contest so thought it was about time to at least try. I'm thrilled that I did - my Mermaid purse took 3rd place.... not bad for my first contest.

The idea to make a mermaid purses was easy - I love blue, love the ocean and anything that has to do with the sand and mermaids. I already had everything I needed to put the purse together - even the gorgeous blue/green velvet velor that I used to frame out the purse and the black bamboo handle. This purse was a labor of love - all 120+ hours! With every stitch and every bead sewn in place, I was excited to take the next one... even though my finger tips were bleeding at times - Ouch! Do you know how many times I poked myself with the needle?

Back:

A whole lotta CQ RR's going on

What a week. First the hot water tank let go (2nd tank in 1 year!) then the water pump to the well needed to be fixed and then the worst .... like a dummy I forgot to turn off the front burners on the stove and burnt the tips of two fingers last week -my CQ fingers!!! Ouch!! Immediately, I pinched off a bit of my aloe plant and babied my fingers for a couple days... now they are as good as new. Guess someone was trying to tell me my hands needed a rest. Let me see if I can remember some of what I've done over the past few weeks. I'll start off with what I just finished up yesterday.



I belong to a "Mermaid's Tale" where 6 of us are working on Mermaid blocks. This time around I had Thearica's block. I first appliqued some pretty aqua colored lame over the mermaid's tail and then started beading it up. Once the tail was completed I jumped over to her hair and beaded it using small gold & yellow glass seed beads along with a few pearls. To the left of the mermaid I did a small underwater scene with fish and seaweed. I know, I'm crazy...even found a way to make seaweed out of lace! I've made it a point that every block I work on I try to incorporate a piece of my dyed laces. (More to come in a future surprise Give Away!)



Right now I'm involved in 5 different RR's. One is an Asian CQ RR with the CQI Group. The first block I received to work on was Diane's - I really enjoyed working on it. First I cut out a pretty geisha from a FQ I had, appliqued it to the block and proceeded to embellish it by adding glass beads, lace for the fan, sequins and some pretty threads. Next, I beaded up some of the fans that were already a part of her block ... I can't wait to see what this blocks looks like when it's all done.




Also, another RR with CQI, I signed up for the Heart IV CQ RR. The first block I received to work on was Julie's. I wanted to do something soft, pretty and dainty. I dyed a crocheted heart, embellished it with some pieces of dyed lace and then topped it off with some dyed silk ribbon. Because the background seems a little bare, I found some pretty peachy pink seeds beads and clustered them throughout the background. In my lace pile I found the perfect piece of lace for a little 3" seam -I think this block is going to be so pretty and girlie by the time Julie gets it back home.

By the way, if you would like to see some of the most incredible Crazy Quilting ever, you have got to grab yourself a cup of coffee, sit down for a couple hours (or more) and check one of my FAVORITES (listed in the right hand column) - "Crazy Quilting International" Just click on it and you will be treated to the most wonderful eye candy ever... oops.... I lied, you are probably going to need a whole day to see all of it so be sure to mark this sight as one of your favorites too.




I am currently hosting the "2nd Annual CQ RR 2010" on the HGTV Board. This year we have 25 ladies who where divided into 5 Groups of 5. The work the girls are doing this year is absolutely incredible - everyone seems to be really into trying something new and learning from each other. The Guidelines were that each person could make a block up to 24x24, be it one block or 2 or 3 equalling 24x24. I chose to make 2 blocks. I couldn't make up my mind which direction to go in and since I love Geisha Girls, I decided to do one in an Asian theme. I found a gorgeous Geisha Panel that Kona Bay puts out, took a picture of the Geisha, printed it out on silk fabric to give it that floaty, soft look and made my block using silks, satins, and velvets. The only bit of embellishing I did was to add a piece of dyed lace - oh I can't wait to see what the girls come up with. The other block I did a bit different. Years ago I Cross Stitched 24/7 ... almost as much as I CQ now. LOL! I am just now getting back into it so thought a pretty pillow with the initial of my last name (Seavey) would make a perfect pillow for my sun porch.





Well, all of my blocks have been mailed out and now I am starting to receive the next round.... have 3 waiting for me to work on so it's back to stitching and dreaming up some new ideas.

***************************
LLLL 2010

LOVE - Love the fact that I can LOVE
LAUGH - Laughed at myself for spilling a whole bottle of red dye at 2:00 a.m.!!
LISTEN - Listened to some old CD's I hadn't heard in years... Gary Alan, Chris Isaak
LEARNED - How to fix a toilet bowl flusher all by myself - LOL!!

CQ Mermaid RR Update

A few months ago I blogged about a Crazy Quilt Mermaid RR that I was in with a group of ladies. There are 6 of us with blocks going around all over the US. Today I received some updated pictures of my block and thought I would share them with you. I feel very lucky to be in this RR with such wonderful and talented ladies and am getting so excited to see the end results of all our blocks. This is how my block left me ... a little bit naked just waiting for some magic to happen. If I'm remembering right, I think this block is something like 24x 28 +/-

This is the first of two mermaids that Kathy has beaded for me on my Mermaid Block. The amount of time she put into sewing on all the sequins and embroidering her hair is just beautiful not to mention totally AWESOME! Thank you soooo much Kathy!

This is the second mermaid that Kathy worked on... stunning, beautiful and overall just incredible! By the way, if you would like to add some great new stitches to your CQing, check out Kathy's blog as she has tons of fabulous stitches she is journaling.

Back to some Crazy Quilting - Finally!

I'm baaaaack! Been MIA for a while and now have so much to catch up with. I took off a couple weeks ago for a long road trip - loved every mile of it and was so proud of myself for doing it alone and not getting lost - thanks to Millie, my new GPS that hubby bought me for my birthday! I drove down to CT, PA, DC, VA & NC visiting friends and family in the past 12 days. From all that my eyes took in along the long drive, I can truly say "America is Gorgeous!" We've got some pretty country out there!

While in DC visiting with my dad, I had plenty of time to actually sit around and CQ. I split my down time between working on a couple RR's and dying up a ton of lace. Here are a couple of the Mermaids I've been working on.

Carolyn's:


Don't you just love her "up do" Done with tons of golden seed beads along with lots of seaweed and seashells to make it a nice place to play.

This treasure chest was handpainted by Carolyn - she does the most incredible paintings on dupioni silk. I filled the treasure chest with lots of jewels and surrounded it with some more dyed laces that resemble shells and fish... even a little lobster.


These Mermaid RR blocks are actually a project that 5 other ladies and myself got together to do.... we call our group - The Mermaid Tale - we are working on Mermaid themed blocks all about 30x30 +/-. I have absolutely enjoyed this RR for more reasons that one- first, I'm working with my all time favorite color - BLUE and 2nd, everything has to do with under the sea.


This is just a portion of Carolyn's block - check out the jelly fish! Kathi makes the best jelly fish ever!!!

Next is Jody's block. Again, using lots of my dyed laces and seashells, I really got into creating a home for her Mermaid. I found the perfect lace that looked just like open seashells... I tacked down some beautiful threads and threw in some glass beads.. the perfect underwater home. Carolyn had a single fish swimming around through some seaweed to the right so since I thought he was a bit lonely, I added a pretty cloisonne fish hoping they would hit it off and make some babies LOL! Check out the last picture - on the right hand side you will see some pretty little vintage glass fish swimming around - guess it worked!



Now that these two blocks are done and passed on, I think I might actually be able to concentrate on a couple new blocks that I just received in the mail. It feels so good to be back playing in all my CQ pretties!

Crazy Quilt Mini Mermaid Block

Before:

I'm so excited! I finally finished my mini mermaid block and am happy to say "I love her" I had so much fun beading her up and embellishing the ocean theme. She measure 8.5 x 11 and if I can figure out a way to quilt/bind her I will use this as my first page in my monthly art journal project. I am naming this page "I wish I was a Mermaid"

After:

In the top right hand corner is a small piece of silk fabric (in purples) that I cut from a piece of silk that I had dyed about 10 years ago using resist. The piece measured about 24x24 and had been sitting in a box for years... might as well put it to use! Also in the right hand corner is a beaded fish that my dear friend Ely made for me. She knows how much I love the ocean and thought this fish would be great in one of my "ocean" themed CQ projects. Ely... it is the perfect touch! Along with some of my dyed laces, I added seashells, a beads. My friend Carolyn made me some awesome polymer clay shells - the starfish hidden amongst the seaweed.