Fan Block for Connie K.

With this block finished at last, I have completed all the round robins that I've been stitching in for the last many months.  This is Connie K's fan block.  I am the last to stitch on her blocks and had my choice of a blue fan or a pink fan.  I've been on rather a blue streak lately, so that's the one I chose! 

Here is the block before embellishment.  Connie asked us to not embellish the outer velvet portion and gave us the option to do something with the lace if we chose.  

I focused on the fan seams to start with.  A feather stitched seam with a bluebell theme on the two center seams and some leafy scallops with white flowers for the outer. 

For the inside corner, I stitched a spider web rose.  The greens are more green than this photo shows! 

For the lace, I added some small fargo roses of ribbon that I had dyed when I was working on my daughter's wedding ring pincushion.  It was too dark for that, but was just perfect for this block!   I also added some vintage "shell" ric rac trim that I had.  

Overall, I'm really happy with how this block turned out and hope that Connie likes it too!

Here are all the blocks after my work.  The stitchers include Lisa A., Thearica, Judy D., Gerry K., and myself. Now the blocks head home to Connie K.!  

With the unusual shape of the blocks, I've been pondering how Connie will put them together.  This is what I would do with them if they were mine!  

I've been having trouble getting my camera to focus properly lately, despite cleaning lenses and everything else that I can think of. There are many slightly out of focus photos as a result. Time to save up for a new camera I think!  This camera has taken nearly 70,000 photos since I got it back in 2009!  It's given nearly flawless performance in all that time.  I'd love to upgrade to a "pro" level camera, but they are heavier and significantly pricier, so I have to do some hard thinking about what to get! 

Thanksgiving thought for the day: 

The Lord is my strength and my shield;

in him my heart trusts;

So I am helped, and my heart exults,

and with my song I give thanks to him. 

Psalm 28:7