Spring CQ...Achillea

Sometimes crazy quilts need to go to sleep for awhile...as has my Spring CQ. When I laid it away last summer, I somehow knew that it wasn't finished, but I was kind of "used up" and didn't trust myself to keep going at that point.

The same thing happened with "Summer Lake Day", only that quilt slept for two whole years before my friend Tracey Brookshier helped me figure out what it needed!

The outer two borders were added at Tracey's suggestion....the "woods" element, essentially. It seems obvious now, but back then I was stuck.

With the Spring CQ, I've decided that it just needs more detail, more lushness...and it being spring again, inspiration is revisiting me too. I don't know how much time I'll have to pour into this right now, as I have some other projects lined up and waiting like planes stacked up on final approach at LAX.

But for now..."Achillea", or yarrow....

Little rick rack flowers!
The best kind of rick rack for this is rayon 3 mm....hard to find, but Mokuba does make it. Used here is cotton 3mm that my dear student Maureen kindly gave me after the rick rack I had put in the kits for class prooved so hard to work with. (Bummer! Thanks again, Maureen, and all the others who brought rick rack from their stashes to bail me out.)
I did use some of the smaller rayon rick rack here too....

I like the contrast in fibers, color and size the two rick racks give. This is on the left side of the quilt...

...and this is on the right side.
I'm not going for pure symmetry, but for balance.

Other elements I've added to the quilt are these lovely vintage motifs that I bought at Tinsel Trading last week with Susan.

The threads in these are silk and metallic. Aren't they wonderful?

Here is an overall shot of the quilt with all its new elements, including some white lace flowers that are pinned onto the center section but are not sewn down yet...they'll be more for texture than anything else.

Those vintage motifs are sewn on along the very bottom edge on either side of that California poppy. They are contributing to the kind of grassy, grounding effect I'm going for...I will have to add some clover along there too....a "weed", true, but definitely part of the garden scenario!
Can you spot the achillea and the two beaded butterflies? (One more of those is coming.)

I truly love how machine embroidered motifs mix with other elements in crazy quilting.
My friend Debra Spincic and her daughter-in-law Laura are teaming up to start a business selling motifs for quilters and other needleworkers. I've ordered 4 more butterflies from them via email (their Etsy shop is almost ready..)
Visit Debra's blog for details!