I finished something!

I finished the bird blocks from my recent bird round robin into a wall hanging for the kitchen. The bird print cotton fabric that forms the center patch of each block is the same fabric as my kitchen curtain. I sent out six 6" blocks to the 4 other stitchers, and got back 5 beautifully embellished blocks. We originally began with 5 other stitchers, but one had to drop out immediately, so the others collaborated on the fifth block. The 6th one was left for me to do, but I decided the quilt would be too long for where I wanted to hang it if I used all six blocks. I did add a few touches here and there to the blocks, especially where the joining seams are, just to have my own hand in there.

The other stitchers were Connie K., Cathy L., Cathy K., and Nicki Lee. That is the order, top to bottom, of who stitched which block, except for block #4, which was the communal block.

And yes, it's a bit crooked. I haven't given it a final pressing since adding the binding, and I'm hoping that will help.

You might not be able to see them in the photo, but in the lace around the border, there are little picot dots. I used some large pink seed beads in each picot. They are some beads that were sent to me by Norma H. a long time ago, and I'd used some for other projects. When I began stitching them on this, one by one, I thought surely I had enough. As I got closer to the end of the line, I wasn't so sure. Finally, I dumped the final contents of the vial into my hand and stitched them on. I was short 6 lousy beads! But I knew I'd dropped a few into my lap, so I stood up and looked on the couch. I found two more and stitched them on. Then I got a flashlight and combed the carpet at my feet. I found two more and stitched them on. But that was it. I'd emptied the vial into my hand...or had I? I looked at it more closely, and there, stuck in by static electricity, were the last 2 beads I needed. Talk about luck! Or was it just meant to be?

A couple of days later, Michaela found one more pink bead on the couch. I have no idea what that means.....

AND, I also started and finished my name badge for the retreat. It was Kerry L.'s job this year to make the name tags, and she crazy pieced them with our names printed on silk in the center. I loved the colors of mine, and wanted some good contrast on the small surface, so I did some variegated purple cast-on stitch roses (a technique that Lauri B. taught me and which I make frequent use of). It's fun to work on such a small "canvas", and makes for a quickly finished project. The lace edging came from a yard sale, and was tea-dyed just enough to take the brightness out of the white. And it just had to have a spider!