Lots of Little Baskets and Some Crumb Block Play

The fire quilt has been something I've decided to push to the front of the line as far as applique priority, but it will not be the only thing I'm working on. Who can possibly do all applique, all of the time? Okay, definitely not me, but I did finally come to the realization that even if I can't be doing the actual stitching, there is some prep work that could probably be taken care of now too.

Little baskets in progress...

So I started working on prepping little baskets, of which I want plenty for this quilt {36, give or take a few}. I had a vague idea of some Blackbird Design 'Trick or Treat' style baskets. And then I thought, wowsers, I will be stitching FORever and a day if I do all the wording I want, lots of baskets and all the other applique stuff I'm thinking about. Seriously? Am I insane?

Much easier to cut the slits and then turn inside out than to cut
down to 1/4" and then try to turn it inside out...

And just before I nodded off to sleep the other night, an idea popped into my head that maybe, just maybe, I could simplify things for later with that as well. There are ways to do things and then, well, there are other ways. I remembered a method I tried years ago where you sew the (traced) applique shape face to face with some thin backing fabric {I used a interfacing material of some sort the time before}, sew along the marking, turn inside out, cut the back out, iron and then, wallah--stitching the finished side down to the quilt top should be a breeze at that point. Not great for precision work, but I'm easy. This is a story quilt after all!

Anyway, I mulled it over and came up with a little basket that has softly rounded corners. I had to make a cut-out for the inside of the basket handles, but other than that, all I will have to do is make sure the edges of the baskets are securely attached. No worrying about fraying edges and lots of time spent pinning etc. Yes, a bit of time spent now, but so much faster later on when I will be more pushed for time if I want to meet the July deadline. And all the backing fabric was leftover bits and pieces that should blend well with my quilt top fabric--very key for making it go faster with the stitching.

Little baskets ready for applique..

We shall see if it truly saves time later on, but for now, I'm trying very hard not to burn out on the lettering part of the quilt. Which means I do occasionally have to do something different. Like working on these crumb blocks?

Crumb Block Play

I completed enough {28 blocks} to make one more outside row and then put them on the wall just to see how it was coming along. Hmmm... I think it's worth sewing together and then maybe even taking time out to play on yet another day. There really something to be said for mindless sewing, especially when it's coming straight out of the scrap bin....