a treehouse for betty

well, my quilt block for august's common threads project is done. do not ask me how that house is staying up in the tree, or why it's got a super-fancy door with a doorknob, but no ladder to get up there. you just have to use your imagination, people. betty asked that we include our name somewhere on the quilt, so i included my initials as free-form embroidered flowers in the lower left-hand corner.

i especially had fun finally using my multi-colored spool of thread on the tree greenery:

like many of the other participants, i used fusible webbing to "glue" the pieces down, then stitched around the edges. the funny part was that i had been thinking that this was my first foray into applique and then as i was stitching it, i started thinking, "oh, this is sort of like my alphabet quilt...." such short memory i have. but it is a little different to be starting from scratch, design-wise. it's much more like "drawing" with fabric and when it supposed to actually look like something (as opposed to just a pretty pattern or design) i quickly begin to feel my lack of training in things like "perspective" and "angles" and such. oh well. it was a fun experiment and i hope you like it, betty! i myself am oddly fond of the back side of the block:

hmmm..... considering that my bobbin thread was white, there appears to be an awful lot of color on the back..... maybe i had the tension wrong? oh well. it's done and i'm putting it in the mail to you the next time i can get to the post office, along with your fabric for september. sorry it's late!