Rose Block

This is the fifth year that a group of us crazy quilters will create a quilt together that is donated to a cancer treatment center. Barbara Blankenship and Victoria Brown co-ordinate the project, which is an outgrowth of those great Art Bra calendars that Vicki produced in 2005,2006, and 2007 to raise money for breast cancer research.

This year's theme is "Roses"...we were all given a piece of rose colored dupioni to use in our blocks and then let loose to interpret the theme in an 8" X 8" block. (To see the other blocks being created this year which are totally fabulous, visit Barbara's Flickr page.)

This struck me as a great way to use my new millinery flower technique! My inspiration was the pink "Fairy Rose".

My block is pieced and ready to go. I've cut out petal shapes and am ready to light that flame to heat up my tools.

This really is so easy.

To create a bud, I used a small pre-made rosebud on wire for my stamen. Instead of gluing the petals on at the base, I just sewed them on one by one. That was much easier for me.
This picture shows me wrapping the wire stem with some nice green wool yarn.

(Sorry for the fuzzy shot.) I did use a little bit of glue on the leaves of the calyx, which was cut from some ultrasuede.

These vintage velvet leaves were a little too big, so I just cut them down to a better size.

I couched down the wrapped stems and just whipstitched the leaves on.
The top rose was sewn on like the bottom one, but I mooshed up one side and held it in place with the calyx which I tacked on over the flower's base, to get a different look. Those are rayon French knots in the center of the bottom rose.

I'll be taking this block to work on while I'm visiting my cousin Tracy in New Mexico over the next several days. Before we head up to the ranch, we're going to spend a little time in Santa Fe to attend a workshop together at the Bead Fest. Fun!

I'll be back in a week.....I don't think I'll be able to blog from there but if I can I will.
Otherwise....Adios, Amigas....