Plenty of stitching going on...

...just not much time for posting about it.

 

Lori's Country Roads SAL was fun. I made mine half the size. Her pattern gave you 5" finished blocks. Mine finish at 2 1/2".

Still pondering how I will quilt it.
Then there is my second version--also made half-size. Still have to stitch the blocks together on this one.

I got my table mat from  Lisa Bongean's class completed. May I present "Winter Cabin"!

                                                                                                                                                                          

I'm so glad I got this refresher course on wool with Lisa. It has been almost 3 years since I took a class from her and that was my very first introduction to wool applique. She is an excellent teacher, but I was so overwhelmed with all of the info I was taking in that I couldn't absorb it all. It was good to have a second chance to see what I had missed.

















 I love the little snowmen on this piece. You can see here how the pattern called for them to stand with their arms demurely to their sides. Most of them cooperated.

This cheeky little snowman was feeling frisky and tried to get the wave going. : )













I didn't post these photos first because I didn't want you to wonder if you were on the right blog. : )
Back in January I first saw the Fancy Fox pattern on Nancy's blog. I loved what she went on to create from it and I knew I had to make something from it for my oldest granddaughter, who is enamored with foxes. I bought the pattern back then but didn't do anything with it until Monday of this week. The birthday is the end of this month so I figured I had better get cracking

My daughter told me that they are redoing Abby's room for her birthday and the colors will be orange, teal and grey. I am so out of my comfort zone here, and that seemed to play out in all of the trouble I had putting this together.

Don't get me wrong--the pattern instructions are excellent and the fox blocks go together quickly and precisely. The problem was that I didn't want just fox blocks, and I was back to my "fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants" design method. That always invites problems. Then I made the mistake of choosing a fabric with a very directional print. I have to say that my seam ripper has been my constant companion on this project. : )

BTW, I must add--you do realize that one of these fox blocks by itself is larger than most of the quilts I have made of late? These finish at 20x24".

 I played with my antiquated version of EQ (aka graph paper and pencil) until I finally came up with something I thought I could make. The one to the left was my first idea. I scratched that for an off-center barn raising design. That paper went in the circular file. Then I played with the idea below, and finally hit upon the one to the right.

Our granddaughter will be at our home with her family on Sunday, so I wanted to have the top assembled and hidden away before then. I will still have over 3 weeks to get it quilted and bound. My goodness, it usually takes me at least 3 months to decide how to quilt something. I hope inspiration strikes more quickly this time.

The good thing that came of all of my "resewing" was that there were plenty of opportunities to run my leader/ender blocks through the machine, and I had a healthy pile to add to my collection of windmill blocks by the time this top was assembled.

I keep my leader/ender supplies tucked beneath my extension table as I work. I can easily grab them when needed, but they aren't in my way.

Well, I think that about covers it. I may be in recovery mode for a while from my foray into modern quilting. I'm just not cut out for it. : )

Until next time,
Janet O.