Backing, Fronting & a few in-Betweens

I've been sewing lately, just not quite as much as usual. I have a 3rd kid now out of school, which makes things more hectic. He doesn't sleep in as late as the others, and naps are off his agenda! Plus the dynamic between he and his 5 year old brother leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, making me too mentally frustrated some of the time to be an efficient and accurate quilter.

None the less, there has been a little progress. I have learned of a local machine quilter who's price is very reasonable (~$100 for a queen). I'm going this afternoon to see some of her work. I saw a small piece she did that my mom received as a retirement gift and it's nice. If all checks out OK, then she will be quilting my older son's quilt. I spent time the last 3 days getting the backing (below) pieced. It's all from leftover Bento blocks and pieces of the Kona/Bella solids. It's busy, but I like it.
Yesterday, I had just had enough of working with the very large backing (above) pieces, and needed to make progress on a flimsy that I could quilt this week. Sooo...I pulled out 12 6-1/2" squares from my dwindling pile of Kaffe Fassets, and bordered them up. The borders are bold, in-your-face type prints, but colorwise, they coordinate well with the center squares.

I hope to get this quilted and finished this week. That should leave things wrapped up nicely for starting the sewing on my daughter's birthday dress next week.

(the Foxgloves pattern is one of my favorites...I may have to stock up on some more :-)))

And, one week later, as expected, I have all 20 of these pieced stars for the Tree of Life quilt. They finish at 4.5" square (on point). It took until about the last 5-6 before I really had a good rhythm on the piecing! Needless to say, I'm not disappointed that this part of the quilt is done. It was some of the tiniest and meticulous piecing I have done. ...On to the center tree~

And last but not least, here is Kate's birthday block, and the end to the swap she so patiently hosted. She asked for texture, and short of glueing burlap to a square, this is what I came up with. It gives me a new appreciation for this type quilt. This is 10"x13", and took about 6-8 hours of hand work. I'll need a lobotomy before I make a full bed quilt in this pattern!!

Progress in New Directions

I have been playing in EQ6 for a month now, designing different things to make with my 25 FQs of hand-dyes I got last month for my birthday. I have contemplated a variation on a Lone Star as well as a detailed New York Beauty quilt. Both of those got overruled. I'm just not in the mood for the paper piecing right now. I love this idea. The tree in the center is just pictorially - It will really be more "tree-like", with actual leaves in all of the colors. I'm calling this my Tree of Life.
The first border of intertwined pinwheels/stars is immensely tedious. They are small, only 4" square when finished, plus they are a partial seam construction. Some of you may recognize this as the construction from the Colorblocks (the 4SQS5 summer block swap). In theory it is not hard, but the tiny size of these makes it difficult. Here's a look at the first 4. I have nearly 9 done now, and hope to have all 20 by week's end.

I have also nearly completed the smocking on the dress I am making my daughter. It's fairly simple, but I thought that was OK since the fabric is pattern-heavy. I'll begin dress construction soon.