But Wait, There's Even More Applique!

I'm still busy and not getting a lot of machine time, but I have been doing more applique as you can see.

This is the third finished block for Pearl Pereira's Baltimore Halloween Block-of-the-Month. I have 2 more blocks in process and another will arrive next week, so I'm a bit behind on this one, but I'm getting there.

I am caught up on my Bunny Hill FREE BOM, the basket quilt and I just love how these sweet little blocks are turning out. It is so generous of Anne to share these with us. Every month, I'm digging through my Mom's old buttons to try and find a couple that work and this month I found a set of four square mother-of pearl buttons, so I used two and have two for another month.

Last Friday I was fortunate enough to take a class with Sally Collins and I'll tell you about that tomorrow. She is amazing!

Back to Quilting

It has been a busy week with my MIL and FIL arriving on Mother's Day and staying through Thursday, and after a day's respite, my stepdaughter Sarah and friend Eddie arrived for another evening of celebration of hubby's birthday. Needless to say, we collapsed last night and will continue to do so today!

Two years ago, I participated in a round robin inspired by May Britt's group and we finished our projects just after the first of the year. We were so pleased by the results that we decided to play again this year. We had a few dropouts and added a few new faces, some gals I "knew" from other mini-quilt round robins or swaps. You can see them all by following the link on the sidebar for Round Robin Bloggers. I decided to have a soft "Be My Valentine" theme this year and present now, my starting block. Quite a switch from the last one, isn't it? The initials are for Jan Brackett (my maiden name) and Mike Andrews. Should be a cutie when finished because the gals in this swap are very, very creative. You won't be seeing it again until I get it back as a finished quiltlet in about 15 months because we've decided to keep the progress a secret again. Stay tuned.

And Yet More Applique

I'm also working on Bunny Hill Designs (Anne Sutton) FREE Block of the Month and am now caught up!

At right is the block for February.

I just happened to have a yard of a great Nancy Halvorsen background for all of these blocks and the rest have come from the old scrap bin. The blocks are great because they use up tiny snippets of fabrics. Stash diving is such fun!

The second block is for March and features a couple of buttons from my Mom's old button box.

Finally, the April block is the chocolate bunny and I just love him. I'm not happy with the cheapie ribbon on the chick's neck and will be searching for something better.

Some April Applique

As I said before, I have been appliqueing my little heart out.

This is block one of Pearl Pereira's new Baltimore Halloween BOM, the Owl. I tried using Pearl's method on this block, and have to say that for small concave and convex pieces, I really prefer my old standby, needle turn using a sharp toothpick from the Cracker Barrel Restaurant.

I did a few modifications to the block by adding the buttons and watch chain to the owl's rather plain vest.

Block two is a huge basket of fruit covered with a spider web and very complicated, so I'm working on it a bit more slowly and I jumped ahead to block three, Spiders and Bats.

This block was a complete disaster using the freezer paper on the back and fold the edges over method. So much that I had to redo the wings using my own fabrics. All in all, I think it turned out pretty cute. This particular kit gives "just enough" fabric for the appliques without a whole lot left over, so when I mess things up, I have to go stash-diving. So sad to have to fondle all of my fabrics.