February Pincushion for CQJP 2014

I'm on a roll!  This afternoon, I finished my February entry for the Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2014!  

The silk ribbon embroidery blossom was inspired by the silkie on this block.


I haven't worked with 13mm ribbon much, but it was perfect for this blossom!


Around the base I used a tiny ribbon trim to cover the stitching holding the top and bottom together.


In my stash, I found some perfect vintage rick rack and some fun flower beads!


There was also a piece of lace which I had dyed ever so long ago that was just right.


Perfectly romantic for the month of February!


Once again, I added my signature on the back along with the month.

The block was part of a Christmas Cracker exchange that I received a couple of years ago.  I had no idea what I would do with it when it came.  That orange/red patch was a bit "off" for the rest of the block as was an eye-popping fuchsia piece that got trimmed off when I made the block round.  They almost put me off the block for good, but I'm glad I persevered!  

In my laundry area, the miniature African violets are blooming like crazy!  One itty-bitty plant has grown into several!  When they stop blooming, I'll repot and separate a few more off!   When we had our house fire in 1999, I lost several pots of violets and streptocarpus.  This little violet was the first house plant I purchased afterwords.  It's been going strong for 14 years!  

Love those fuzzy stems and buds!

The orchid we received as a house-warming gift is going strong too and sending out new roots and shoots!  

Edited to add: The above photo made it into Flickr's "Explore" on 11Feb2014!  It's had over 4000 views since then and 45 favorites!  Thanks to all of you who have "fav"-ed it!