Quilt Squares I've made for The Safe Motherhood Quilt Project

Please see my previous posts about this ongoing project or visit the website Remember the Mothers

~ Heidi Lewis ~

click here to see it on the Safe Motherhood Quilt website

Nicole Renee Walacavicz Clatterbuck

click here to see it on the website

Jackie Novak

click here to see it on the Safe Motherhood Quilt website

other blocks I have done

Virginia Wanjiru Njoroge

Merle Alisa Oxman

Nicole Savoy
Lara Nuerge Schultz
Linda Nha Tran
Kristy Dotson Balka

Mud Runs

Tough Mudder NE 2012 crew

~ me on the right ~

What's a mud run you ask?  It is an obstacle course with lots of mud!  The distance varies anywhere from 3 miles to marathon distances.  I tend to go for ones around 5 miles or less because I'm in it for the fun mostly and because that's all my old knees can handle!

I have 2 Tough Mudders (New England), 3 Ruckus events, 1 Spartan Sprint, and 2 Rugged Maniacs under my belt.  So I asked myself....what else can I add to that list???  Why a Spartan trifecta medal of course!!!

Tough Mudder NE 2011

~ eight foot wall ~

So, this year I have decided to try and acquire the Spartan trifecta medal!  That means I need to complete one of each of the 3 Spartan races:  sprint, super and a beast - with in one year!  Most of my crazy mud running friends have jumped on the bandwagon and are in it with me.  Erica won't be joining us because she doesn't want to over train cuz she has her sights set on a mid level triathalon - so impressive!!  The rest of us are signed up for the Spartan Super in Montreal on June 30th, the Spartan Sprint in Amesbury Ma on Aug 11 and the Spartan BEAST!!! on Sept 21 (I think that's the date, gotta double check).  We are very excited and not surprisingly a bit tentative for the BEAST.

Ruggged Maniac 2012

~ slide ~

~ low crawl under barbed wire ~

Spartan Super in Montreal on June 30th:  is a 8 mile course.  Although I think it will be closer to 10 miles.  Time will tell.  This year I hope to accomplish the rope climb. I was unable to do this obstacle:  I was too tired by the time I got to it in the past.  I have been working on strengthening my shoulders and upper body!!


I'll keep you updated!

Blizzard of 2013 - Nemo

What else could I do while waiting out the 2013 Blizzard but quilting and embroidering? :)  I decided to make my very first ATCs (Artist trading cards).  These are so cute:  they are 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches.  The inspiration for these came from the blizzard:  We ended up getting 29 inches of snow!

here is one of the ATCs.

a closeup of one of the snowflakes

and a closeup of the second snowflake (Bullion knots, French Knots, fly stitch)

 using DMC thread and metallic thread and.  Further embellishments using some bead  trim.

Here are two more ATCs I made.  These are addicting!  
I am keeping the one on the right for my collection.

The other two are being traded and I can't wait to see what I get in return!

Teal Aqua Turquoise study- Crazy Quilting Group

I am excited to participate in my first Round Robin for the Crazy Quilt Newbee group!  The ladies are so friendly!  I feel fortunate to have found this group!

I am working on Lori's block first and after taking a look at it, I decided to focus on the Dragonfly fabric.  I plan on embellishing 2 of the dragonflies, each a bit differently to try and see what works best.  I hope Lori doesn't mind that I am using her block for my experimentation :)

For the outline I have couched 3 strands of DMC 964 using one strand of the lovely Pearlescent Effects #E966 also from DMC.  I just love the pearlescent effects thread for embellishments.  The results with this thread is just lovely! I do find that I need to use short stretches of this thread as it tends to kink a bit here and there.  I need to keep an eye on the tautness of the thread that is being couched.  It is obvious from these pictures that there is some slack here and there.

Each section of the dragonfly wing is filled with French Knots using 1 strand of thread of different shades of teal.  The front wing consists of DMC threads (not shiny) and the back wings consist of Guterman threads (shiny).  Although the Guterman threads are shiny and thus more pleasing to the eye, they are a pain to work with because they are so slippery.  I did not enjoy making the French knots with this thread. You can also see that some of the French Knots are not as tight as they ought to be.  I most likely would use them again for this kind of effect, but I would be saying a few choice words under my breath as I did so!  One little trick that seemed to help was to make a small stitch right after the french knot to anchor it.  That kept it from becoming loose.

finished outlining the other wings and started filling in with French Knots.

The head is filled in with a satin stitch and the eyes on the side of the head are made with a cast on stitch.
The body was made from beads and sequins.  The antennae were made with a stem stitch using pearlescent thread.

The first dragonfly is just about done!

I decided to embellish the second dragonfly's wings using a LATTICE stitch to  

make the wings appear more fragile.  The rest of the dragon fly was made just
 about the same as the first.  Let me know what you think!

here are the two finished dragon flies.

 Below is a seam treatment decorated with lazy daisy stitches with French Knots in centers, 

pistil stitch, buttonhole fans, and fly stitch secured with a French Knot

Below is another seam treatment consisting of lazy daisy chains, lazy daisy flowers and coral stitch.  

The cat tails were made with a stem stitch and Bullion stitches.  

here's the bottom, right-hand side of the block that I worked on.  

(The crocheted flower was already present)

hope you enjoyed this post!  Happy stitching!

Another quilt square for the SAFE MOTHERHOOD QUILT PROJECT

Click HERE for the link for the Safe Motherhood Quilt Project

Here is another quilt square I have made in memory of a mother 

who died due to a complication associated with child birth.

It is thought she died of a pulmonary embolism one 

day after giving birth to her daughter.  

AGNES CORDES ARDOIN

 I found some fabric that had a floral column that drew my attention and I decided to use that for the quilt piece.  I cut it into strips.  I found a coordinating  piece of fabric that would go great in the middle and sewed that down with large straight stitches.  I then sewed the floral strips around it, mitering the corners.

Using  a variegated purple thread, I machined stitched some floral embroidery just outside

 the seams to bring it all together.  I then machine-stitched a small floral border using a 

variegated tan thread right at the purple/tan seam.
I added some faux pearls by hand -stitching French Knots at the center of each
 flower, using a pearlescence thread from DMC.

I added some fantasy flowers (chain stitch) using French knots for its center 

(two kinds of orange thread).  I used the Blanket stitch for the leaves.

here you can see some small flowers made with lazy daisy stitch (maroon thread) 

for the petals and  French knots for its middle (sky blue thread)

this store-bought butterfly goes beautifully with the piece.  I couldn't resist!