Four Seasons Swap for Winter

Now that the holidays are pretty much over and done, I can focus on the Four Seasons Quilt Swap for Winter. I've had time to look over the blog of my recipient and have come to a design decision.

I won't say much about the recipient, but I've chosen a non-holiday winter theme that reflects the place where I grew up--the San Joaquin Valley of California. Visalia and the surrounding area is a renowned agricultural area and citrus is among its diverse crops. Winter is the time when all citrus in the valley both ripens and is most vulnerable to freezes. The oranges (and grapefruits, and lemons) require a certain degree of cold weather to ripen and sweeten, but can be devastated if subjected to sub-zero temperatures for more than a few hours.

I used my favorite program, http://www.electricquilt.com/ to design the quilt and the block is from EQ's "Folk Art Classic Applique." I now have the central block bonded down for the applique and that's a good start.