The Happy Dance, Finally!

My latest block is finally, finally finished!!  Picture me doing a happy dance!  

This block took me a while to finish, but here it is at last!  Maybe it was all those blueberries.  I counted them repeatedly and the number (68!) never got any smaller!  And there were some interruptions and interludes along the way:  summer visitors, setting up this blog, adventures in design.  It feels good to be done!

This block is my design inspired by an antique quilt attributed to Mary Simon.  The dogwood branch is a new element and I'm pleased with the flowers.  Sometimes, you can draw something but that doesn't mean it will look the way you envisioned it when translated into fabric.  The light dogwood flowers are a pale pink batik; the darker ones are an Oakshott cotton.  The embroidered lines that give the flowers their dogwood look are done in stem stitch using one strand of silk floss.  The centers are French knots, 2 wraps in 4mm silk ribbon.

Here is what the block looked liked before embellishments and the hummingbird.

The moral of the story:  Don't let the blueberries get you down!  


Have a happy stitching kind of day!!