FMQ Challenge June ~ Linens, Cindy, chair

FMQ Challenge June 2012

Cindy Needham instructor

Thank you Cindy for leading us this month in the FMQ Challenge!  Love your work, loved seeing you on TQS, and your books and instructions are so inspirational!  Thank you for sharing your time and talents with us, you have not only informed but have encouraged and inspired us in the midst of teaching, and we have been blessed.  My sampler practice block...

This is a piece I purchased some time ago, after Cindy showed what "her FMQ ideas" could do to an old linen.   I love the little roses in this piece.  

My niece gave me this olive green fabric which I used under the doily to show through the areas where there is hardanger-like open weave work.  Thank you Kellie, putting all those fabrics you generously shared with me to use.

My friend Sharon recently gave me some embroidery threads, green, pink and white, which I also used in this piece.  Thank you Sharon for this generous gift for my embroidery work!  In most of my FMQ pieces, when not practice pieces, I usually have the thread color blend it, but after watching Cindy's lessons on the Superior site, regarding the purple quilt, I thought I would try this green for the square and pebbles around it.  I love the threads!   In this project though, I thought the green took away from the original doily design, so I toned it down by "scribbling" and filling in the center flowers with peach thread. Don't miss the pink scribbling around each pebble, creating shadow, making the pebbles pop more!

  After practice of the lesson, and reading through the assignment a few times, and then drawing out some of my design in my journal, I began with the blue washout marker, and marked the center piece. 

I then used a bendable ruler to mark the shape to go around the roses where I added feathers in white embroidery thread. 

 I also FMQ heart shapes around the little white daisy's to help them stand out more on their own.

Using more peach thread, I did a second square around the green one then added feathers, following up with peach pebbles around the open weave work that matched the original little circle embroidery on the piece.

The back of my piece shows the FMQ design so much better without the distraction of the color or the beautiful embroidery work.

A friend recently repaired a broken leg on our birds eye maple tea table, thank you Charlie !   I love this unusual table, and thought if I just had a little chair in a light color wood, it would go so nicely, and I could sit  with a cup of tea and enjoy the view from our window.  Wouldn't you know, the next day I spied this little chair by the side of the road with a tag "FREE" on it.  Into my car it went and I finally knew what this months challenge piece would be!  I took the chair apart, threw away the cover, washed the seating, and created this FMQ linen piece to cover my chair! 

Applied a few coats of a fabric finish (scotch guard) may help preserve the fabric from staining.

After removing these embroidered corners, they are in the process of becoming little mug rugs to go on my tea table with my chair.  Will include a photo of those when I complete the FMQ on them.

Thank you Cindy, Sew Cal Gal and friends ~

Godspeed,

mary