Catching Up

Oh, my gosh! We have been so sick in our house lately. I've been working on a small round robin that I'm on in another group. There were so many of us participating that we split off into 3 groups. My group is all ready to send to the next person, except for me! I decided to do a lot of applique on the first block. I'll admit that I've allowed other things to get in the way. Such as being sick... *grin* I've also been reading a lot lately. Yup, looking at my group list, I'm the only one not ready to move on.

I did baste on the next little thing I'm working on and started appliqueing it down today. My kids have changed on me lately. They now let me sit on the couch, under the best light, and work. This is the first time they've ever let me do that. I'm grateful that they're letting me. Normally I have to wait until they're asleep. That will speed this up greatly and allow me to partially catch up. Maybe I should just stick to pieced borders? LOL Unfortunately, I can only do what the block tells me it wants. This one screamed for some landscaping applique.

The block that I am doing for my part of the round robin was all applique as well. Rather fancy and makes it one heck of a challenge for my poor round robin mates. Oh, well. It stretches their imagination, right? *grin*

I'm one of the youngest in my group. The older ladies are sweet enough to say that I help them expand their horizons and move out of their comfort zones. I tend to 'throw' crazy things at them because I prefer more contemporary designs. Not necessarily contemporary, but definitely different. I'm always up for a challenge to expand my quilting skills. This particular block has made me completely fearless in the land of applique. LOL I'll tackle anything now.

I've also been working on Sylivia's Bridal Sampler from the Elm Creek Quilts books. Love those books. Can you believe that I've never done a sample before?! Well, I have only been quilting for 5 years. There's still plenty of time for everything, right? *grin* I've only done 2 blocks so far. The quilt itself has 140 of them! Luckily they're each only 6". I started on the third block but happily messed it up. Don't know why I thought I could paper piece without measuring the pieces. I'm odd like that. I learned to paper piece using Carol Doak's method. Little waste and perfect 1/4" seam allowance. I love that method. It fits my personality. Unfortunately, it appears that's the only way I can do it and get it right. *grin* So, I scrapped my original attempt and will redo that soon.

There they are. Ta Da! *grin*

Well, that should just about do it for now. I should really get back to my round robin block so that I can stop holding up my group. Strangely enough, they're not due to be mailed until the end of June. Such a pushy group... LOL I'm really just kidding. They're great!