Sunday, December 11, 2011

Lavender and Lime Christmas CQ Block




This is one of the two Christmas blocks I recently created. I wanted to do a fairly traditional Christmas themed block in non-traditional colors. The inspiration came from the vintage postcard (of course). I loved the colors and the scene. I also had the snowflakes shown on the upper right light lavender block. They are actually for paper crafting, but they are real beads, so why not? I then started pulling fabrics from my stash.



The bird images are also from vintage postcards I have and I loved the coloring and the sentiment. I added copper threads to the flying bird to give her some sparkle too. The green ribbon flowers were from someone very special and were posted on my blog several months ago. I added a sheer lime green ribbon around the outer edge of each to brighten them and shape them a bit more like roses. The snowflake directly above them is a snowflake I won from a blog friend (Marie @ sredeluxe.blogspot.com) and I was thrilled to be able to use it. I loved the non-traditional violets on the postcard and extended them beyond the edge of the postcard. I also stitched up several of my own versions of snowflakes throughout the block to fill in spaces.





I had a tough time photographing this block to show off all the sparkle. If any of you have tips for this I would love to hear from you! There are tons of sequins on this block and it really does reflect. I had some buttons and clear/rhinestone beads (shown along the branch on the green patch to the right of the postcard) that really worked into my design nicely.




As I often do, I ended up with this big solid purple block almost clear across the bottom. I added the golden lace and of course sequins and beads.


8 comments:

Mosaic Magpie said...

This is beautiful and I love this unusual color choice, it just adds more interest. Speaking of interest, nice use of the snowflakes and crosses. I like the date added to the bottom as well. I know what you mean about capturing the sparkle and or iridescence of embellishments. I will be watching your comments for this info as well.
Deb

Marjolein said...

Christmas colors or not, this is gorgeous.
There is so much to admire in this block. Especially all the cristals. Did you make the violets of silk ribbon? I would love to know how you made them. I could make some for my crazy violets CQJP quilt.

Laurie said...

Amazingly beautiful Connie, now to go pick my jaw up off the floor!!

Cathy said...

My jaw is down on the floor with Laurie’s, LOL. The colors and stitching and, well, everything is just gorgeous. But all the white and sparkles - even with the non-traditional colors in the background - reminds me of of little snow flurries. Somehow, these blocks not only look beautiful, but they FEEL beautiful to me. Hugs, Cathy

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Oh. Wow! You did a great job on this one Connie - I love the colours and all the little details. Beautiful!

~CC Catherine said...

Connie...this block is BREATHTAKING! Wow --- Magnificent! One thought I have about photographing this...are you using the auto setting on the camera or are you using a manual setting? Let me know ~ I might have a suggestion if you're only using Auto that might just do the trick! Merry CHRISTmas! ;)

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

Absolutely beautiful. I love it that you selected non traditional colors. It IS very Christmasy and sparkley!

Deborah M. said...

Gorgeous. Wow! Might not "see" the sparkles but I can FEEL them. ;-)