I was supposed to be catching up on hand applique yesterday. But I ended up in the sewing room thinking I'd sew a block or two from a couple of projects, blocks that are already cut and ready to go.
Instead I found myself thinking about the Free Motion Quilting Project. I can't actually start it yet, as the machine I use for quilting is in the shop getting serviced, but I could prep for it! Well I had all kinds of ideas for the sampler quilt that was suggested here, starting with neutrals. Then I thought, wait, I have a drawer full of solids, I have a fear of quilting on solids or something that my free motion stitching will really show . So that's it, I thought. Well no, after a morning of pulling out all kinds of stuff suitable for this kind of sampler, I had decided to just make practice sandwich squares using some squares I had found already pre-cut. Then after a little bit of time, I went back to the idea of the solids sampler. I love it! I think I'll use grey thread throughout, and it will be a real confidence booster for me.In my hunt for fabrics for the Free Motion sampler, I came across a pile of pre-cut dark brown squares about 8" big. An idea hit me. Combine those with these scraps, and I think that will be great for Jo Morton's Prairie Flowers...I think I'll machine applique these. I started on a sample, but haven't finished it yet.
I also got my batting scrap bin under control, and made enough pieces for four wallhangings and a bit more! All neatly bagged and labelled!
The Just Takes 2 quilt colour choices are driving me mad. I went ahead and did some strip cutting of appropriate sizes of the red and white...but I'm still interested in that persimmon solid that I'm waiting for. Now I've discovered that Tangerine is the colour of the year for 2012 (as announced by Pantone). Do I really want to use a colour of the year?! My interest in the Just Takes 2 started because I love red and white quilts. So I don't know yet.
