Living This Creative Life

I have two favorite quotes. The first one is by Emile Zola, "If you asked me what I came into this world to do, I would tell you that I came to live out loud". I don't know who the second one is by, but it goes like this, "If you're not living on the edge then you might as well jump". Both of these sentiments sum up my personal philosophy of this experience we call life on earth. Enjoy!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Block #77 in the Machine Quilting Challenge


Good Morning All,

Here is today's new design. It's very dense and stitched in a variegated thread and is hard to see in this size. Click on the block to see it larger then come back and read the instructions. I call this design Chrysanthemums.

Begin near the middle of the block and stitch a small circle about the size of a pea. Stitch six or seven round ended petals around the circle, then stitch a second row of petals around the outside and in between the first row of petals. Continue stitching additional rows of petals around the previous row until you have stitched a total of four rows of petals around the flower center. Knot off when the flower is complete, lift up the needle and travel to where you want to start the next flower. Knot off again and stitch out the second flower in the same manner as the first. Fill the entire block with flowers in this way, leaving about 1/2" - 3/4" between flowers.

Now, stitch the negative space between the flowers. Because the flowers are so curvy, I chose a straight lined design for the negative space. Simply stitch a straight line from one flower to the next then change angles and stitch another line, keep stitching from flower to flower, crossing over previously stitched lines and sewing at all different angles until the background is equally filled.

Hope you enjoy today's new design,

Till next time,

Heather

1 comment:

me said...

I think I missed this one somehow...

It's really pretty- and looks really complicated.

It kind of blows my mind to think about the way your quilting flows out from your mind's eye to your hands and the fabric- this intricate and beautiful stuff appears and just IS.

Are you publishing all of these in a book? (I HOPE...) This would be an invaluable book to have in my library- a resource I could use over and over- and still never do them all!