My Current Applique Round Up

I am on complete and total applique overload lately. It's not terribly unusual around here, but once it hits, then it's almost deadly, at least to my motivation. First of all, there is my Sunburst quilt. I've firmly deemed it a 'forever' project by now, so it only proceeds in little fits and starts. A leaf here and a leaf there. Not a lot of progress ever, but I think we're good. Aren't we? It almost always makes me happy, if a bit bored in the 'doing'.

Sunburst

Next up is the low volume Log Cabin quilt, which was very sneaky about inserting itself directly into the mix. I was very happily making my free looking Log Cabin quilt top and then the idea of adding applique just sort of crept into my thought process. Ha! No sneakiness about it now. It's been like a runaway train getting all the parts prepped and on their way to completion. Just a minute there buster, you are NOT a priority concern at the moment! So weird how that happens. I've had to make myself slow down in order to concentrate on a couple of other projects!

LV Log Cabin

Quarter Circles Round #2 has been placed on the back burner for now. It just needs a little sewing done on the machine before I can attack the hand applique, so for now--no pressure. It still makes my heart go pitter patter every time I pull it out though and you know what that means.... It's one that I'm very eager to start working on! Hmm... I could probably just power through this one in no time....

Quarter Circles Round #2

The Eagle QAL quilt is basically in the simmering stage for now. I really want the next border to be an applique border, but have no brilliantly clear picture in my mind. Perhaps a classic looking vine type motif? I'm definitely leaning in that direction, but am fairly content to let it incubate--for now. Deadline is July 4th! Just curious, how long can 'for now' last?

The Eagle QAL quilt

Lately I've also been very intrigued by the Marsala Challenge, if only because I have plenty of that drab, uninteresting color in my stash. Why I ever bought it in the first place is a question that is impossible to answer, but for some reason my mind has seized upon the idea of trying to make something work. This fabric pile keeps growing larger as I wonder, hmmm...? The main problem to starting this particular project {any justification will do} is the issue of what I would clearly want to use for a pattern. It, ahem! has a lot of applique involved.*sigh  Insanity, thy name is woman... But you know, it's not like the applique would be ready right away! The initial phase of the quilt would involve a lot of sewing on the machine???

Thinking about making a 'Marsala' based quilt

And then there is the quilt that is the culprit of all my quilting stress--the 2014 Fire in Pateros quilt. Stress is NEVER, ever allowed in the quilt room, but somehow sneaks in through the back door occasionally regardless. It's a quilt I really, badly want to make {sort of feel compelled to make actually}, but it's driving me insane. The creative stage of figuring out the details was fun and a bit thrilling, but the implementation is so, very difficult and yes, a lot tedious as well. I love and adore words on my quilts. Getting them there is the problem. Arghhh!!

2014 Fire In Pateros quilt

It's also possible that I've bitten off more than I can chew. Why oh why did I plan out such a largish quilt for such a crazy, emotional project? I now have most of two 'thoughts' appliqued onto my first panel, but there are six more to go, plus two or three other areas that have words included. Not to mention a panel of other applique 'shapes' and other various appliqued bits to be placed here and there. It's the real deal, 'whole applique' quilt and would be very, extremely interesting if I could just mix it up. The problem is, this first panel needs to be completely finished before I know for sure how to proceed with the rest. The colors, balance etc. depend primarily upon this first {very wordy} panel that somehow gets me all churned up. It's not like I was at war people! 

I've recently challenged myself to complete one 'thought' per week in an effort to make some real progress, not this namby, pamby, dinking around stuff. If this means all the other applique work gets shoved aside for now, then so be it. It really need to be determined if this quilt is actually 'doable', before it gets shoved in the back of a closet somewhere out of sheer frustration and temper tantrum type antics. Who, me? haha We all know some quilts are very, very difficult to implement, but this one feels like it could be well worth the effort if I can just tackle my antipathy towards sewing on so very many of these fabric letters. {And no, I don't want to do an iron-on type of applique. I don't like how they feel in a to-be-used quilt.}

So there you have it--a complete overview of my recent applique overload. It's important to make quilts we're gonna love, right?*wink