It is all Backwards

The weather that is. It's March 2nd, and we have hardly had days in the 20's or even 30's in weeks. The snow is all gone, except for the remnants of 5 snowmen - a ball-shaped Stonehenge of sorts in the front lawn. I got out the kids' scooters and one bike today when I saw the thermometer in the 40's. I'm not crazy though. This is Maine, and it could still snow a foot tomorrow. That is how winter goes, and March or even April for that matter are still winter. It is nice for a day or so though.

This post is just a hodge-podge of things I have puttered with lately, in addition to quilting on a number of quilts for clients. The one above is my hand appliqued piece for the Maine Quilt Show this summer. It's not finished, and I am still tweaking the color balance, but that is essentially the outer boundary. It's 40" square. The lightest batik near the center is getting ripped out. I don't like it, and I plan to do some whimsical circles in a couple of shades of lime. Then it is off to the machine quilting design studio for further though!

I am in week 4 of Feather Bootcamp at MQResource. I have taken this class a bit lackadaisically, in that I have read all the materials weekly, but not done much machine time until last weekend. Yesterday's lesson was on circle wreaths. I don't sew them often, but need to!

My "practice" piece for the class is this aqua fabric. I'm too pragmatic to use scrap fabric and contrasting thread (as it will make an UGLY product!). So I went for the contrasting ones in hopes of not screwing it up royally and being able to wing a donation quilt out of it. It has feathering on the borders, a few of those hearts, and meandered feathers all over it. And I mean ALL over it. Not my favorite thing to quilt. In the holes, which were not really supposed to be there (doh!), I raw edge appliqued some jungle animals. There are 6 or 7 of them. I abhor raw edge applique, but I was able to do this with the machine on the frame, steaming the fusible without removing the quilt! It's abstract and cute and some kid will like it.Here's a client's quilt that just got mailed back today. I am not a fan of white quilts, but much of the quilting world is! I was off my rocker when I proposed quilting this diagonally. It had WAY too much stop and starting. Need to rethink some strategies more next time. The owner wanted a modern feel, with (to my surprise), no feathers! I like the pebbles and the leaves and there is a ferny outer border. And did I mention it is a KING?...huge.

So I have another king mounted and started. It's in pretty batiks and I am loving the look of the Rainbows thread on this one.