Finding Embellishments for Crazy quilting

I think half the fun of crazy quilting is scrounging around thrift shops, ebay, and rummage sales looking for the perfect thing. But sometimes those things come your way without having to look too hard.
I was in a fair trade store not looking for anything in particular, and spied their Christmas ornament section. It was there that I found this peacock- superbly hand embroidered and goldwork encrusted ON BOTH SIDES. It is hard to capture the beauty of this piece with my little camera.
I bought it and proceeded to very carefully remove the stitching that held the two sides together. Now I have this gorgeous piece ready to go for my peacock crazy quilt. I so enjoy the beautifully embroidered pieces I see coming from India and other areas of Asia. It looks like I'll be doing some shisha mirror work to back this beautiful bird up!

Another Peacock Block that sets the tone

My CQJP 2012 is going to have lots of peacocks, paisleys, and fans. Here is another peacock I made a while back that will eventually go into my quilt. I have decided on doing 9 12" squares.
I'm not really sure I like the 12" squares. When something gets to this size I end up enlarging my seam treatments to match the scale and I lose some of the delicate beauty of CQ. One of the advantages of a larger block though, is that it is easier to fit in larger embroidered motifs which adds more versatility to the block.
I embroidered the peacock tail using princess perle thread and beads. It was a free motif somewhere off the internet.
The paisley was a class I took from Betty Pillsbury. Go to her new blog www.bettypillsbury.com and check out a few more by going to her gallery. Awesome.
My January block is pieced. Now I can get to the fun part!