rebekah's butterflies

Here it is Rebekah. So sorry for the wait. I can't even explain why this one took me so long. It seemed that every sketch I made just didn't feel right. I'd put the sketchbook aside and walk away for a bit. That wasn't working, so I carried the fabrics with me every week to my quilting group and would pull them out. Still nothing. At this point it was just plain embarrassing. This weekend I holed up in my studio and refused to leave until I'd figured it out.

And I think I did.

I hope this features squares and rectangles enough for you because it's one of my favorite blocks that I've made so far. It was heavily influenced by all those narrow strips of fabric that were used in the blocks all of you made for me last year. I think I was stuck in trying to figure out how to make the pink predominant in my old sketches. I also knew I wanted very much to feature the butterfly with embriodery. This idea seems to have solved both problems.

The stitched butterfly is actually a white one cut from the motif fabric you sent, but without the others surrounding it, the butterfly faded into the cream background. It was perfect for a little embellishment in whatever color I wanted.

for Wendy, for Amanda

Here I am in my little self portrait for Wendy.

This sort of block does not come naturally to me. I struggled and don't really think this captures what I wanted. Oh well. At least I got pants, scarf, and layered tops in. I couldn't get my feet to look anything close to right and ultimately went footless. Let's just pretend my crazy pants cover my feet, okay? ;)

= = =
Digs's block was right up my alley. I was able to crank this out in no time. And I don't want to give it back.  But I will.  Since I was bribed with chocolate. 

nadia's forest

I also loved those little animals peeking out of their little holes. They had to have some trees to live in. Nadia, I hope you don't mind that I used a lot of my own fabric for this one. I had just enough faux bois left to give them their own little forest. The Heather Ross fabric between the trees was meant to add a little plant diversity.

After I appliqued the animals to their trees, they didn't stand out nearly as much as I had hoped, so I used some embroidery floss to outline the holes and create a little texture.

Oh, that cute little racoon face! Not as cute as a new baby though.

cross my heart, I'm catching up

Thank you Jacquie, I got myself into a quilt bee slump and was feeling overwhelmed with how much I had to make up. These little blocks were just the right size to make me feel like I could get going again.

In fact, I just kept going until I ran out of fabric.

There's something about that little cross that I just love. Probably has something to do with my liking anything as long as it's miniature.

What to Wear?

Sorry it took me so long, Wendy, but I have the same problem every time there is a special occasion and I have to decide what to wear.

I don't usually wear dresses, but for this occasion it seemed fitting. Also, I made myself tall and thin, artistic license you know. I hope it's ok that I'm not wearing a hat. I would never wear a hat.

I think the log cabin blocked dress makes it very me. I'm going to be happy living in your quilt!

pluses and minuses

Gosh, packing up all this fabric is taking longer than I expected, but I'm putting the packages in the mail on Friday. Somewhere commented on someone's awesome plus sign quilt on flickr (maybe yours, Rossie?) is a question about what comes next after pluses. I think someone answered minuses, and, well, I've never been able to get that image out of my head. But, of course, I kinda want both: pluses and minuses.

Here's the plan: the background fabric will be the same throughout - yummy dark teal (which, I think, should disguise dog hair nicely!) - so the idea is the pluses and minuses kind of float in 16 x 16-inch squares. For some reason, I'm having trouble uploading my drawing (albeit crude!) to give you an idea of what I'm thinking, but I was able to get it up on flickr here. And more details to come with the fabric. And just so we're clear, wonky is so, so good!

Can't wait to see your block. Cheers to you and a sunny spring!