Third in the Melon Patch Series and A Tisket A Tasket Finish!

 Lovely to get the applique border on the Melon Patch Blossom quilt! I was ready to talk myself into another border and then pulled myself back from the brink.

Wrapping up the Melon Patch Blossom top

It really does look pretty good 'as is' and it's a large throw size now so why bother adding more onto the quilt and quite possibly ruining the look? Gotta know when to quit!

A lot going on in this quilt

In my planning, there was supposed to be some of those green leafy things inserted on either side of the corner whatchacallits. Just looks sooo much cleaner without them though. Had to leave them off of the quilt which of course meant less hand stitching and so I finished up faster. Yay!

Hard to get the true colors for this top

I've been determined to get this third Melon Patch quilt in the series {plus a couple other things} done and squared away before doing more on the Bramble Blooms QAL. And.... ahem! There are a few more of these leftover melon blossoms that may or may not be the start of a fourth Melon Patch quilt! hehe  I told you, these series quilt can be sort of addictive. But I won't start that just yet, promise!

Love the crumpled vibes

Also put my nose to the grindstone and got the binding completely sewn onto the 'A Tisket A Tasket' quilt. Now I just need to get the label taken care of.

A Tisket A Tasket is a completed quilt!!

This quilt was basically a project dreamed up just for the simple joy of using up some of the oldy gold fabrics. I don't know if you can tell, but the gold fabrics behind the baskets actually have an interesting green cast to them. I sorta love playing with these strange, oddball colors. Always so much fun to see if I can make them shine!

Looking across

I also managed to squeeze in as much of a red plaid shirt that I could. It's one that my dad wore years ago and I just loved the idea of putting it into a cozy, snuggle-up sorta quilt!

Up-cycling an old shirt from my dad

There was a lotta old, stale-dated fabrics used up in this quilt and I'm so very happy to see that it didn't ruin the look and vibe at all. Not one little bit! The few, newer bits of fabrics here and there were a big help in perking up the some of the more boring fabrics! Oh! Did I say that? Some fabrics are much more wonderful looking when carefully grouped together with a great supporting cast. 

Simple baskets

So that's that. I also managed to get six pair of jeans hemmed, all thrifted this summer. I'll be happy if three or four of them find their way into my new favorites stack as I wear jeans all fall and winter long. Last year there was way too many skinny jeans to choose from and that just drove me crazy. Ugghh.  Crossing my fingers these jeans work out better!  

Okay, now I'm gonna try and catch up with some of my blog reading. I have been falling so far behind with everything this year. Feels like all I ever have are good intentions....

Can't Believe It's Already November!

I've been trying to make a little bit of progress on the growing list of applique projects. Why oh why does it never seem to shrink by much? Hmm.. Maybe if I'd quit adding to it so cheerfully?

Putting the applique in the sashing this time!

I finally got the first section of the Melon Patch Blossom quilt sewn together this week. It's not very wide so of course I will probably want to add on a border. These blocks are quite simple, but the orange fabric felt like a good choice to help make the applique pieces pop. I'm not sure what the little circle things are. At first the idea was to make little pomegranates and then this shape came into play. My daughter says it looks like a tomato which now, I cannot un-see!

Loving the happy colors

The 'petals' in the sashing are some leftovers from the original Melon Patch quilt, of which there had been many changes even getting up to that point! In fact, as many of you know, this will be the third Melon Patch quilt using up parts and pieces. The second one in the series is here if you'd like to take a look. All I know is, all three quilts together are already much, much more interesting than the original quilt idea ever would have been. Nothing at all like what I expected to end up with though!

Thinking about a border solution

I'm getting closer and closer to a quilt top with Good Vibes, another of the Circle Game quilts. Each quilt is made out of the cut-out circles from behind the one before. Some day I'll have to post my series quilts in order at the top of the blog just so I can keep track! These blocks are 19 1/2" inches so I may be making Circle Game quilts for a long time as it will take a very long time for there to be nothing decent left to work with. It's definitely been an intriguing bit of play, but sometimes it feels hard to be increasingly creative with large circles. Still have a couple ideas left in the tank though and of course, all the doing will undoubtedly generate something more. Isn't that the way it's supposed to work?

Getting ready to sew some sashing to the blocks

I've also been trying to get the hand sewing done for the centerpiece to Bramble Blooms I. Several projects waiting patiently in line right behind it. Most all of the leaves and stems are sewn down and then next up will be the flowers. At this point I'm very seriously considering cutting the flowers out just a skootch bigger as I like them just this way. Don't want to lose any impact when the seam allowance is sewn under! It happens so often around here, you'd think I'd be prepared, but nope! Always surprises me to think I have to cut out another, slightly larger set.

BBI centerpiece

And, I finally, finally got all the hand quilting completed on the Positive Thinking quilt. Don't know why, but the hand quilting was not quite as soothing and meditative as it normally would be with this particular quilt. Love how it looks now that it's finished up, but I think the thread didn't show up quite as well as I generally prefer. So pleased to have it almost wrapped up now. 

This was a 2020 AHIQ Challenge that started the whole idea and I am quite, quite positive it would never have happened without that particular prompt. Still running a little behind with the other challenges. There's a sun I need to do {working on the applique prep right now} and now, an Improv. border to incorporate into a quilt. Hmm.. I can totally envision creating an entire quilt just to play with a special Improv. border!...... 

Next up is the hand sewing on the binding

I was super happy to find all the binding needed in the leftover binding tote. It has pink, blue and purple binding sewn on now and doesn't seem to be the least bit bothered by the scrappy, make-do look. Kind of goes with the upcycled shirts already used in it! Always thrills me to be able to use up any of the leftover bits and pieces of binding, applique parts and/or quilting blocks. Yay for frugality and making do!

Okay, that's the quick wrap up for what's been happening in the quilt room around here. I have been spending boat loads of time getting the posts figured out for the Bramble Blooms QAL. SO much work. I don't know why I didn't think about how much time the posts alone might take! Hopefully everyone participating is finding the QAL fun or at the very least, maybe being coaxed out of their comfort zone? I am absolutely blown away by all of the interest and creativity happening by the participants. Wowsers, how amazing is that we have close to 25 Bramble Blooms quilters on the list already? Love it! 

September Progress

The past week has found me tackling the ongoing project list. With only six open ended projects, I figured it would be an easy task to make forward progress on most of them!

Peace Always Medallion progress

First off, the 'Peace Always Medallion' center needed a smallish border. I've been dithering over the colors for this, but when finally settling on the very light pink and darker blues? Yummm.... Love it so much! It was super tempting to leave it in the rough, slapped up on the wall, make-do look, but I resisted and tried to sharpen it up a bit. After the border was sewn on, the basket looked way too plain. Had to dig through the orphaned applique tote to see what might help! Now it has a much, much better presence and feels ready for the next go-round. Which is intended to be baskets, because, why not?

Looking a lot better!

I put my fingers to the grindstone and managed to get all the hand stitching taken care of for the petals on the 'Melon Patch Blossom' quilt. These units are going to be used as sashing. The orange rectangles and squares plus lighter peach triangles are the cut-out pieces for the blocks in the quilt. They will be a chubby X looking thing. Very simple, leaving the sashing to convey the vibe of the quilt. I'm also in the process of figuring out the cornerstone units. Will probably be little pomegranates, mostly because I adore the look of them! Have the cherry red fabric soaking as we speak! 

Happy to see these petals moving on

Another quilt that I've been having great fun playing with is 'Tatterdemalion'. It's the orphan parts and pieces quilt that quickly captured my attention after getting back from so much time away from home.

Will have to do something good with this fabric

The improv. 9-patch blocks had already been determined on, cut-out and sewn up. Then I stumbled on the older Ana Marie Horner floral in the totes. Yeah, it briefly got my hopes up with the lovely, moody, look and feel and the almost haunting combination of utility and large floral. You probably can't see it, but it almost gave me the shivers.

Gonna have to go with these colors!

Then I threw the 9-patch blocks at the quilt and delighted in the lighter, easier look to the whole thing. It's like it lifted the quilt to a whole 'nother level of happy and I just don't want go down the road of moody and broody right now. Don't wanna at all! Feeling all kinds of pangs about this decision, but I know it's the right thing to do.*sigh

Have to cut new units

All the blocks are trimmed up and ready to go. The only problem is, they ended up being quite a bit smaller than the 12 1/2" that I expected and hoped for. Nope. They all had to be trimmed to 10 3/4" because of the smaller improv. squares. Soo... Will have to add another two rows or so of 3-patch strips to each side of the quilt. Oh the joys of doing things the improv., fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants way!

This could be a good quilt someday

Which brings me to the wheels quilt. I had these dresden wheels all ready for applique before taking the month of August off. Didn't sew a single one. They were a bit worrisome in the amount of stretch and how warped they were. Just didn't take enough time with the precision sewing like they so clearly needed! Anyway.... I finally got a couple of them sewn down to the background fabric and ughhh... Don't want to deal with this right now at all! {Are you sensing a theme?}

Next up will see me using a seam ripper, getting them into the half circle shape once again. Then I will cut the background fabric in half and start working on the hand applique. After that is kind of up in the air as to the overall look of the quilt. All I know is, these wedges are just too darn cute to leave languishing in the orphan totes. My daughter calls this the 'Mistakes Squared' quilt, but I'm sure we will find it a more fitting name eventually.

Loving these fabrics together

And the last project on the moving forward track is 'Good Vibes' from the Circle Game series. I'm thinking #3 in the lineup? These are big circles, needing background squares a slightly larger than a fat quarter {what most of the stash starts out as around here}. So yeah... pieced backgrounds are my new go-to as you've undoubtedly noticed! Good thing I'm learning to love and appreciate the look!

Never take pictures in the evening

Each circle will have a 9-patch circle shape stitched into the center except for three of the circles. They will have a rough, somewhat awkward looking tulip shape appliqued right over the top. It's been a whole thing getting the leaves and petal shapes figured out, but wowsers has it been a joy to work on this quilt! Will see how the quilt shapes up, but for now I'm positively thrilled with the way the colors and fabrics look together. 

Sometimes it doesn't even seem to matter what the design of the quilt is, we just need to sew specific fabrics and/or colors together and see them rest side by side in a quilt. It's like they belong together and our job is to facilitate that, no more and no less!

Trying somewhere new

On another tangent, I have belatedly decided it's time and past to order new clamps for my QSnap quilting hoops. Uh huh. Out of two 17" hoops, I am down to three clamps and even one of those is now showing a crack.  Decided to take a chance on this company instead of Amazon like usual as their prices and references seem good. Isn't it nice to order from a smaller company instead of the huge monopolies? That's been my goal for the past year though there are a few things I can't seem to find anywhere else. In a couple cases, I've switched out the product brands normally bought {not usually quilting related}, and am trying to see how I feel about that.

Okay, that's the quilting round up for what's been happening in the Quilty Folk quilt room {and living room}. There's one more project that needs lots of attention and then..... it's fair game. Gonna start a couple brand new projects guilt free!!

All the Current Projects

So one of the questions I get asked pretty often is this: how many projects are you currently working on? Well, most of the time, it's a number somewhere between 5 and 10. And that doesn't even count the quilt in the hoop or if I'm finishing off the binding on yet another quilt. 

The new medallion quilt

Right now there are 8 work-in-progress type quilt projects. They have fabric stacked up, blocks started or applique prepped, designs doodled onto paper, or something serious going on. They are the real deal and not just a dreamy little idea for the future! The first one is 'Peace Always Medallion'. Just barely got the centerpiece stitched down a couple days ago. Love, love, love having a free-style medallion quilt in the works!

Needing a sashing

'Primrose Path' is a project based on a textile print that I pinned on Pinterest years ago. Just love the naïve look to these  flowers. Took me a couple years to finally decide that yes, I did actually want to do the backgrounds in dull black colored fabrics. Next up is working out the measurements for the pieced sashing. Really intrigued by the way the sashing forces the applique into being front and center.

Getting ready to stitch these down

'Melon Patch Blossom' is part of the ongoing Melon Patch series. It will be the third one in fact! When I changed direction in mid stream, these petal look motifs didn't relish being completely abandoned. The bright green rectangles are probably going to be a sashing element in this quilt. Maybe. We'll see where things end up.

All ready for the love and attention!

'Improv. Hourglass Abstract' is something that has been nagging at me for a very long time. Really wanted to do something with the leftover hourglass units {wrong size so more like useless hourglass units?} and this seemed like the answer. Will need to be figuring out a larger scale applique flowery vine to stitch down over the top of this. Don't want it to be so small as to not make a proper impact!

Looking pretty sweet!

Then there's the 'Happy Accident' project. Cut out all the Dresden units much too narrow for Ring Around. Are you getting the message yet? Many of my projects seem to originate from leftovers and random mistakes...

Piecing is not my strong suite anymore. Feeling a bit boring...

'Old Fashioned' is just a sappy, mellow yellow quilt that I wanted to make. Supposed to be answering a Sun challenge prompt, but can't quite get there in my mind until I work with these quieter yellows. Don't know why it works that way sometimes, but there's really not a lot of point in fighting it.

Making sure I want to do what I think needs to happen

'Good Vibes' is the next quilt in the Circle Game series. #3 I think. These circles were cut out from behind Lillabelle. It's interesting how the circles are getting less and less truly circular and more obviously lopsided. Do I care? Hmmm... Probably not. I also find it fascinating that the circles really aren't getting substantially smaller with each new set. For some reason that has surprised me more than it should of. 

All prepped and ready to go

And then there is 'Prickly Pears'. Yep! Another quilt with cut-outs from a previous quilt. I thought they would be kinda weird looking pears in the gray, but this is looking rather sweet and spunky to me. Will see how it plays out in the larger layout, but for now, my fingers are positively itching to get started stitching! 

So that's that. Lots of applique as usual which tends to keep my skirt blowing up and the endorphins running at high. Will probably try to finish up another project or two before I dive into more brand new projects. The next ones should probably be something other than orphaned bits and bobs too. The thing is, we should all work on exactly the amount of projects that make sense to the way our quilty ebb and flow work best. I feel very good about this amount. Not overwhelmed and too over stretched, and yet not too tied down or boxed in. Isn't playtime fun?

Is this Not the Best Quilt?

Well, I'm definitely going to blow up this post with waaay too many pictures of Ormes Inspired! It's totally finished now, a true blue finish. And wowsers, it looks so much better with the hand quilting! Why does it always, always surprise me to see the difference between a flat looking quilt top and one with yummy texture from stitching? You'd think I'd learn by now.

Ormes Inspired is done!

But you know me, always a roller coaster of emotions from the start of making these beauties, clear up till the final showing! Once again, I want to thank Jane Ormes {a wonderfully talented artist in the UK} for her generosity in agreeing to let me sew up an interpretation of one of her prints, titled 'Welcome to my jungle'. {She certainly took a tremendous risk not knowing me in the slightest!} This was started in 2019 and took approximately a year to bring to quilt top stage. Probably wouldn't have come together even that quickly if not for the pandemic lock downs and all the time in the world for hand applique. Ughh, don't remind me.

Seriously wishing I had some quilt holder-uppers today

While I considered the quilt top finished, my mind just wouldn't leave it completely alone. Nag, nag, nag. Months later, in January of 2021, the missing piece occurred to me out of the blue. I mean, it was SO obvious! Everything sort of clicked into place and finally, finally, the design problem from the addition of a border treatment got to be resolved in a satisfactory manner.*Whew!

Loving the look of the stitching

Why are some quilts so tricky? But you know, it was totally of my own making, all the hullabaloo with the border. I was the one who took a perfectly good design and decided it wasn't quite right for a bed quilt 'as is'. Oh yes, got a lot of feedback about that, which was super interesting when points resonated and also difficult when they didn't at all. And maybe, subconsciously, it was all about attempting to make the quilt a little more mine. Because I've NEVER done that before! hehe  Whatever. It somehow ended up being one of the coolest quilts that I have ever put together! 

So much fun in the details!

I will confess to having a bout or two of insomnia over how in the world to do the hand quilting. Part of me very badly wanted to echo stitch inside everyone of the applique motifs and then perhaps do a subtle cross-hatch etc. stitching across the entire background. Possibly little bit of the antique vibe? The quilt mostly laughed and jeered at that idea and told me it felt massively underwhelmed by that particular idea. Well. If you have to be that way!

Inspiration is always a blessing

It wasn't until the top was sandwiched and pinned that I reluctantly decided on an overall stitching effort, the 'hills & valleys' one in particular. {Baptist fans just seemed a little bit too formal, even done in the freehand method.} Then I got sidetracked by being sick for a couple months, which oddly enough gave me just enough time to properly cement the idea in my mind. Soooo, here it is. Subtle, but seemingly funky and a little bit modern and whimsical too? Definitely nothing to distract in any way from the fabulous design, which was always going to be a concern. Better to push it to shine!

Don't ever be afraid to add the elephant

I want to say that I have had the most fun making this quilt! I'm laughing while I say this, but believe me. All the hair pulling aside, this has been an exhilarating quest, up to and including the last bit of stitching. It challenged me in so many ways that have positively influenced the confidence that I have in attempting whole quilt applique efforts. I'm a better quilter today for puzzlements just like this one. 

You can take a look at the original print here and compare and contrast the very small changes I may have made here or there. One of the most valuable things I have learned about attempting an interpretation is that the final result will NEVER be exact. And really, why would you want it to be?

The awkward flowers are sooo sweet

The goal {generally} is to take a look at the final interpretation quilt and instantly be able to recognize the original inspiration. But.... not get too caught up in agonizing over where the math may or may not work out or how your color choices perhaps changed things to slant in a 'you' vibe. I'm not saying the original design ever needs improved upon. Not at all! We were impressed and amazed enough to feel compelled to do something with that starting point. It's just that we're all human and inevitably something is going to be different, because for one, our eyes see color differently. Our perception of what is pleasing is tuned individually. Our hands create in distinctively unique ways. It's perfectly okay and it's a beautiful thing.

This quilt ended up being made up in these precise proportions mostly because I ran out of background fabric after making a serious math error. Then I had to pick apart fabric and basically start over. Wasn't going to ditch the starting Matisse looking leaves and well, why not wing it? Make-do with what I had available using the original as the framework and not the absolute. I've always been a little shocked at how closely the quilt did in fact replicate the print! Still shaking my head in disbelief... These are life long lessons that I've already put into good use since the finishing up of this quilt top in 2020. Start out as you map out, then be very willing to adapt, adapt, adapt.

Crumples up nice and cozy looking

I get so weary with quilters who fret and stress about how the original pattern maker will feel if they change up colors or an element here or there. If they will 'like it'. For goodness sakes, just do it!! That's what quilting is all about. Taking timeless quilting motifs, patterns and elements and doing our thing, making it our own. Putting our personal little stamp on it. {In this case, it's an artists' rendering and I tried to give Jane fair warning that the outcome would likely not be identical.} Do we need to give respect and honor to the original inspiration? Absolutely! 100%. Then it goes out into the world and morphs again 1000 more times, and where are you in this equation? Probably being a tiny, little spark to a couple of people you'll never even have occasion to meet! Isn't it wonderful?

The hot pink binding ended up working out perfectly!

Okay, enough about that. At this point, I don't know how I will be able to let anyone ever use this quilt, at least until the shiny wears off. It feels a little too precious and special. I had been thinking about gifting it to a granddaughter, but yeah. It's a lot of quilt and they're pretty little yet! We'll see. I might think about putting it into a quilt show some day. Just not sure about mailing off my quilts these days.

Making a statement in the guest room

In other news, I am still pushing forward on the Improv. Hourglass Abstract quilt. The open floor is only mine for a couple more days so really, I need to get off the computer and go quilt! All the hourglass units are where they will probably remain and now I am working on sewing improv. string units to fill up all the empty space. Right now they are just loosely plopped down into the pertinent space until I can determine how many still left to cut out and sew.

Trying to piece together a background 

There should have been plenty of them, but quickly realized that I needed a whole lot more. So bad at the guestimating! Back to the stash totes to dig for more fabric, grumble, grumble... Improv. strippy piecing takes much more fabric than single pieces of fabric, but if you want that background texture? Gotta do it! Basically, I need the empty areas to be lower volume fabrics because it will provide a nice background for the large scale applique vine I'm wanting needing to do. Uh huh. It's all starting to make sense now. 

And you may or may not know this, but I have a terrible time letting go of pretty pieces of creamy white background fabrics. Yep. I'm usually quite positive there is another much more worthy quilt waiting in the wings and of course it will desperately need this or that specific fabric....

Lots of lighter areas for better flow in the quilt

In case you're interested, here's a picture of what I see when I'm rounding the corner from the quilting 'room' back into the open floor plan upstairs. Back to my design floor. Wish I had a design wall as big as the floor area, but hey! We all do what we have to do to survive. To the right is the back of my husbands desk, which is always interesting when he's working upstairs and I'm just over the partial wall, merrily quilting on the other side. Good thing we like each other, though his music now, that's not always as palatable....

Having fun stitching the details

And here's a picture of the current quilt in the hoop. Making good progress with this one, though the individual hoops are taking much longer than expected to stitch. Somehow I always think that I can breeze through the hand quilting and get a hoop done in an hour or so. Uh huh. Right.... Hoping you all have a great Easter weekend! 

One Step At a Time

 It's been good to get back into the more normal flow of quilting around here, though I don't know how long it might last! That often means that I'm checking in with the opened-ended projects list and trying to move things forward. Little by little, one phase at a time, one decision at a time, nudge, nudge, what does the quilt want now?

Stack of Primrose Patch blocks

I've had the Primrose Path applique done for months now and just needed to figure out how to get the corners added onto the blocks properly. All along, it's been intended that there would be a pieced sashing of sorts and I want for the blocks to sort of blend and become part of it at the corners. Hopefully this will do it! It actually took a bit of time to determine the absolute best color for these corners as the black backbround is quite, quite stark. The blocks have been trimmed to size and the underneath black corners cut out since this picture was taken. 

The first border on Herbs & Berries Baskets

The Herb and Berries Baskets quilt has also managed to be moved forward.... clear to the point of being a completed quilt top! Ta-da! I had all kinds of ideas for a pieced outer border, but just before cutting the fabric, kept changing my mind. Meh. Yuck. Ughh. Definitely not that. Are you sure? It was a bit exhausting actually.

A finished quilt top!

Finally, I just went with the warmest, most simplistic idea imaginable. A bit Jan Patek-ish, right? And I adore it. The quilt loves it. We're all happy as clams. Complicated is not always better. Another thing, the first border fabric was a cheapie, cheapie fabric gained from one of my relatives years ago. It had the perfect colors and subtle stripe look that I wanted so..... I obviously had no choice but to use it! I mean, what would you do? So annoying how it wanted to pucker though. Might have to throw the rest of it away 'cuz I'm just not sure it's worth the headache.

Looking a bit closer

Serendipitously, I was also able to get a big block of time with the upstairs floor open and free of people tromping back and forth. Uh oh. Time to quit procrastinating on the Hourglass Improv. quilt! I know it doesn't look like much right now, especially with that horrible carpet underneath, but wowsers. This work represents about four hours of really hard, keeping-my-nose-to-the-grindstone effort. Then I promptly stacked all the bits and pieces up and put them back into a tote. 

Next time they are taken out, I may or may not move them around again. Succeeding steps will be making big sections of string pieced slabs and then chopping those down into whatever size needed. Next week will probably be the next time the floor frees up again for auditioning and further layout decisions. And yes, I'm feeling great about making progress, but less great about the final results. Ho hum. Right now things seem to be looking a lot more tense than what I had hoped for. Definitely need to incorporate more light colored fabrics and work on opening up the overall flow somehow!

Hourglass Improv. progress

A big 'hope this can happen', but not entirely expected, was getting the Ormes Inspired hand quilting completely done by the end of March. Barely squeaked it into the timeframe. Wasn't it lucky that the binding was already sewn together and ready for phase one of machine sewing?*wink  Made me so, so happy! I know, I know, who cares how long it takes, really. Nobody cares but me. 

Ormes Inspired getting a binding

Next quilt up 'in the hoop' will be the Melon Patch Rows {Jubilee} quilt. The one that took years and ages to bring to quilt top stage and looks absolutely nothing like the original idea. 

Melon Patch Rows ready for pinning!

I'm usually a big proponent of cutting out the behind fabric for applique, but in this instance I took a pass for all the lettering. Just too many homespun fabrics used, which unfortunately has a tendency to fray. Normally I would do a Baptist fan stitching or something back and forth over all the double layer applique areas, but nah! This time I want to echo stitch inside all of the letters. Hmmm... Dreading it a little, but we'll see how awful it actually turns out to be. The beauty of homespun fabric is that it really is quite soft and the needle usually glides through like it's butter. Maybe a double layer of fabric won't be completely untenable.

Loving the look of the wording across the top

While pinning the quilt, I kept admiring the border applique. Really, really looks so sweet to me. Such an impulsive decision to cut those border scallops in half, but look how effective it is in that position! We just never know where a quilt wants us to go, do we!

And this flower and the border? Makes my heart melt!

So that's that. I'm feeling all sorts of creative these days, like maybe the floodgates opened up for awhile again. The main problem is that my opened-ended projects list has jumped from four or five to ten just in the past couple weeks. I should have NEVER rummaged through the orphan blocks & parts and pieces as four new projects seem to be the back up and try again sorts of effort. Oh well. It was really worrying me that the applique projects had dwindled down to a measly one on the list. Now that it's back up to a robust six applique projects {with the beginning stages prepped and ready to go}, things are feeling a lot more positive.  Just can't help myself for wanting to play with these orphaned bits and bobs right about now.