My 12 Gathering Blocks

When I started these 12 blocks with the personal likes/dislikes we were given, I became confused by having far too many choices. I did Andrea's and came to a grinding halt. After a lot of thought I realized the choices were guidelines only, not meant to have Every thing included and I found it no bother to start again. As you see below I couldn't even stick to the guidelines LOL
My hope is that the girls all liked what they received from me.

Andrea's block was the first I did and as she wanted bright colours, this block seemed to take on a life of it's own. I had no bother completing it.
















Norma's block is fairly simple and has a snail from Maria Freitas BDE book, a dragonfly , hand painted fan and some SRE roses.















Bear likes purples, but no way would my brain accept this. I think the only thing I did that was requested was roses , of which there are plenty and a butterfly. I also did my second beetle from Jane's book














Margaret's was also easy, as she likes blues and flowers and I love embroidering flowers.

















Vivienne loves a Victorian look and I hope I achieved it. I tatted the cross and used flowers for her initial. I know she loves daffodils, so I tried one. Surprisingly Viv put daffs on my block, which are small and so lovely. I enjoyed the crewel wool pansy which is another favourite of Viv's.













Julia also is a Victoriana lover and I tried to keep the colours to burgundy but felt it needed a lift and I chose oatmeal/cream shades. This was my first Scarab beetle from Jane Nichols beetle book. It was fun and very easy to create. There's a bit of my old broken jewellery near the top left of the block. I wound vine leaves around her initial.












Brenda asked for Victorian shades also. Very popular with our girls. As Brenda is new to Cq-ing, I tried a little of each application as an example for her. A little beading on lace, SRE on a small motif in the middle, buttons with stitches and beads and a charm or two.













Kathy requested no block for herself as she didn't have time or experience to retaliate (grin..) but being 'Us' we decided to surprise her. I think Kathy is more of a sane quilter at present. Bear let us know she liked hunter green and I did this on mainly cotton. I'm always surprised when I use cottons to embellish on, that they are so soft and easy to work on. I tried highlighting the flower and berries.










Mary asked for creams, but for some reason I kept including pastels. I did this one on and off, trying to get back to just cream, but my eyes and fingers would not co-operate.















Sandie's block was fun. I made a colourful fly (don't ask what sort please) from Jane's book.
The quail is from Maria Freitas BDE book and a pleasure to make. Very quick too, which surprised me as I used a single strand of Rajmahal for bullions/Turkey stitch, etc.,












Catherines block was dictated by the fact she loves her garden. The tree top is made from wool lace and I hoard the last small section of it, using it for special things. I used small amounts of wadding to make the clouds 3 dimensional.
I can just see Catherine lolling about her garden, being waited upon by her DH.













Maria's block was another easy one to embroider. Maria asked for turquoise and lavender and embroidered seams. Well I didn't get them heavily encrusted, so I hope she liked it.