Florabunda Blocks Finished!!

I finished the center block of Florabunda earlier this week.  And here it is...

I have to give credit to my husband for picking out the fabric for the basket.  While we were on vacation, I dragged him to 2 quilt shops looking for fabric for this basket and two purples that I will use as sashing for the quilt.  I found a plaid that was 'basket-ish', and he went poking around the shop and found this basket weave fabric! 

So, as I was approaching the end of the stitching on this block, I started to panic because I don't have another hand work project lined up.  My original idea was to baste the iris quilt top and start the hand quilting on that.



I love this quilt!!!  I'll do a whole blog post on it some time later.  This was started quite some time ago and was nicknamed the 'forever' quilt.  Anyway, my plan was that hand quilting this was to be my winter project.  But, money is a tad tight and I don't have the extra cash to get backing and a king sized batting for this beauty, so it will have to wait for a while.

So, what to do.  I decided to find  my sewing machine under all the clutter that has accumulated on my sewing table for the last 6 months or so and become reacquainted with her.   I found some small UFOs that needed some attention and got them completed.  I could machine quilt the maple leaf quilt since it is all prepared and everything, but that doesn't give me something to do while watching TV and wouldn't have given me the happy jolt of finishing a project.

This one was some extra blocks from my maple leaf top that I put together and machine quilted.  All it needed was a binding.  I've never been happy with my mitered corners on my bindings, so I used this as a learning exercise to try a different technique.  My conclusion is that I like this, but I need more practice.

OK, don't look at the miters too closely.  Like I said, I need practice.  Yes, the leaf placement was intentional.  I think I'll use this as a trivet for the table.

The next jolt of happiness for finishing a project came from these pot holders.

Aren't they cute?  Again, left over flowers from another project put together for something useful.

Then I started a new project - a pin cushion/thread catcher.  I've had the pattern for quite some time and have been planning to make one of these  since April.  I'm still not quite done.  I have the hand stitching to do and I have a plan on when that will happen.

More Updates

I got a nice note from a follower with a nudge to post more frequently.  First of all, I have a follower?!  Wow.

Not much going on quilt-wise.  Nothing speedy anyway.  I'm still working on the center block of Florabunda.  This is what I've got so far.

I realized on this block that most of my projects go in sort of a 3-legged wave.  The first leg is like the down hill slope of a roller coaster.  I'm excited about the project and am anxious to see how it is going to look.  I choose fabrics and stitch on it as often as I can.  Then, I either get bored or stuck and I'm on the up hill climb on that roller coaster.  I either know how it is going to turn out, or I can't imagine how it will go, and I drag my feet and find other things to do or excuses not to do this.  This is the phase when lots of projects turn into UFOs.  I've managed to power through that phase on this particular block and am now onto the coasting into home stage.  I've pretty much decided on how everything will look and am looking forward to the next ride - that is, I'm looking forward to getting all 13 blocks together with sashing and seeing this come together as a quilt rather than a set of blocks.   This picture was taken a few days ago and I have all the petals of the center pink flower sewed on and all but one of the missing 6 leaves done.  I'm guessing it will be done in a week or so.  Then maybe I'll have more exciting things to blog about.