WEEK TWO

I am re-posting here what I have just put on Deb Spincic's blog.

"have not gotten very far in my first couple of weeks. I did put 2 squares together and last night started stitching on one of them. I did not take a picture of the stitching because I was not too happy with it. I will probably take it out. I find that with cq I have to be in the mood in order for the ideas to flow. I think it is in my head that I have to work to a schedule that is stopping me. There are times in the past when I have put my work away for a month or more then take another look at it and something will come to me and off I go. Also I will put one square away and start another which will probably happen this time also.

I have 10 more blocks to make up and that will probably not happen for a few weeks but I do have 2 to work on. I am not sure if I am going too light in the colors but I did not want this one to be too dark but at the same time I did not want the pink & turquoise like I used in my pink fan based one.

I hate the way the blocks look when I photo them. They always look lopsided. I cut a pice of hard plastic 10" square then cut out a frame inside of it 8" that I can lay over any block and just make sure I am on track and not too close to the edges with embellishment. I also always sew around the edges and have not done that yet. I did baste around the 8" block edges so I can see that also.
I threw in the centre with the queens so you could compare for colors. Too light?
Let me know what you think."

This past week I signed up for an online class with Karen Ruane of Contemporary Embroidery in England. If you are a fan of Karens you will know about her gorgeous whitework. She is offering a 6 week class and it is very different from our regular cq. The piecing is simpler with more emphasis on using lace edged hankies, old pieces of linen, etc. and very simply pieced. I had brought down my bag of lace hankies that I had washed and prepared last summer not even knowing if I would be using them. This is a perfect class for them. She does not make her blocks even sizes. You would really have to go to her blog and look at her work to understand how she does it and how incredibly beautiful it is. She is a very talented lady plus has had many wonderful classes they have in embroidery in England. Her blog is: http;//www.karenruane.blogspot.com or www.contemporary embroidery.com. See for yourself. I will post pics once I get a couple of squares pieced and do some actual work on one. Marianne R. of Magpies Mumblings.com is also doing this class. She has all 8 blocks pieced already.