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.