Progress on my crazy quilt project "Hats". Undate #2

Work on my Hats, crazy quilt project is continuing.  I thought I would give you all a little update.

As I mentioned before I like to work in phases, so phase 1 was making the blocks (blog post June 26, 2025) and phase 2 was basic embroidery with various floss and threads (blog post Nov.12 2025).  Today I'm adding phase 3 which is fine stitching on the faces and hats.

Below are a few detailed photos.  Sorry for the quality of the photos, I see they got a bit fuzzy from zooming in so close.

Most if not all of the stitching on the hats and faces is done with a single strand of "fancy" or specialty sewing threads.  Technique for the stitches is a combination of straight stitch, back stitch and bullion stitches.

The bullion stitch was great for adding a 3-D fluffy effect for the feathers. 

 Beads and silk ribbon were also added.

I anticipate the "Hats" project will take me at least another year as I work on and off around other projects. I hope you will drop back in as the work progresses.

I thought you may be interested in seeing how I store my "fancy"  spool threads. These threads are, for the most part, shiny, silky polyester or rayon threads, metallic threads and SULKY threads. I love the look of all of these threads but many of them my machine doesn't like to work with.  Thus, I use them for hand work and special effects.  

I like to put my threads in small jewelry bags so the threads stay nice and neat.  The thread bags are hung by a color matching metal ring and hooked to a metal rack.  FYI, the metal rack is an old dog gate tipped sideways.  I love the way this works! So neat and I can see everything. 

I know this takes up more space, but I find I'm using all my stuff because I can see it.  And, because it has a home it gets put back for the next time.

Hope this gives you some new ideas and inspiration.

Have a great day!

MaryEllen