Bling Your Thing Entries Post III

I've received so many e-mails asking to see my "Bling Your Thing" challenge piece that I thought I'd post mine today and all the rest tomorrow.  You know I documented the process right?  That's what bloggers do :)

Entry # 9 - Kelly Jackson- that's me :)

I wanted to use something I already so I pulled out a gift I received from Nadine Ruggles during her Schoolhouse lecture at Quilt Market.  She had given the attendees a little packet of fabric, beads and instructions to make an Inchie. 

I enjoyed her presentation so much and I've always wanted to make an Inchie....but I have not taken the time to make one until I came up with the "Bling Your Thing" challenge.  Nadine's book, Inchie Quilts is the perfect way to start doing some embellishing if you have not given yourself permission to play previously.

This is the fabric Nadine supplied in the kit.

Beads that were included in the kit.

All I could think to do was to put the beads on the dots and then add some of the longer beads.  It was so boring and I knew it needed something else.  So I ran down and searched through my embellishments and found a package with these three little polymer turtles.  They are not beads and don't have holes to stitch through.

 

The minute I put the spotted turtle on the piece I knew it was the right thing to do.  So I got a sharp needle and poked the needle and thread through this little fella and stitched him in place.  While looking at the turtles the bright green one really appealed to me.  But when he was sitting on the piece something wasn't right.  That's when I got the idea to add some more bling.

I plugged in my Kandi Corp Professional Touch Crystal Applicator .  Lucky for me I had a package of Green 3mm Eye Kandi (that's what Kandi Corp calls their Crystals) and I started to randomly add "bling."

I started with one crystal to see how it would look....I liked it so I just kept adding until it felt right to stop.

 

I used a piece of thin batting behind the base fabric that I embellished.  As you can see above, the embellishments held nicely and all my knots and excess beading thread was on the back.   On the right is a piece of Floriani Stitch N Shape Double Sided Fusible that I had fused to a piece of plain fabric.

I gently pressed the embellished top to the layer of Floriani Stitch N Shape.

Next I did a stay stitch around the entire design and trimmed away the excess so I could see where the stitching would fall when I did the final stitching.

I used Floriani Embroidery Thread because I love the sheen and this is what it looked like.  As much as I tried to ship those little white threads around the edges, I couldn't snip close enough. 

Fabrico Fabric Marker to the rescue!!!

Here is the finished piece.  I used the Fabrico Marker here and there to cover the white threads and give it a two tone appearance.  (you can always use fabric markers to cover things on your regular quilts too...fyi)

My little slice of "turtledom" measures 2" x 2 1/2" and is by far the smallest thing I've ever stitched.  I love how it turned out and have been thinking about what to do with it.  Perhaps I'll make one 1/2 the size and embroider my name on it, then attach them with little hoops and use it as a name tag for my Machine Embroidery Guild meetings.  Who knows?  However....I did manage to "Bling Some-Thing" and I was quite surprised by how much fun I had.

Serendipity Happens
I was preparing to publish this post when I was interrupted by the sound of the mail truck.  I hopped up and grabbed my packages and met Loren, my mail carrier.  To my great surprise there was a small box addressed to me.  It wasn't ticking so I opened it :)

Sue Spurlock who was the inspiration for the "Bling Your Thing" challenge had sent me this beautiful doll.  Her note reads, "Kelly, Your description of yourself inspired this." 

 

You may recall some of Sue's work is in the book, Creative Quilting with Beads.   The book review is HERE.

I had goose bumps...I'm in love with "Flies by Seat of Pants."  THANK YOU SUE!!!! I think you pegged me dead center! 

Gigantic Smiles,
Kelly