Back in the swing of things

 I started to get back into the art mindset finally yesterday.  Saturday it was too nice, and I spent my time and energy on planting tulip bulbs.  But Sunday was sufficiently icky to stay in and sew.   I was having a hard time deciding what to start on, but since the Round Robin art quilt has a deadline - October 3 - I worked on that.  The theme for this one was "The  Flowers Around Me." The large yellow-orange flower and the wire one were there when I got the piece.   I had five or six flowers laid out, but I quit after completing three.  Partly, I got bored with it and partly thought I should save others some space.  I didn't like what I was producing as well as the pictures I showed in the last post.  The pre-cut JoAnn's flowers might save time but they were much harder to put an embroidery needle through that regular felt.  And the regular felt that I bought was obviously of lower quality than the photo examples.  Anyway,  I'm not displeased with it, and might add some leaves or stems if time permits (ha!!)   So here's the result so far:  

I created the three small flowers and added the leaf, which I'd made back last year in the Heidi Lund class.  Not sure the orange one should have been so close to the other orange one, but Oh Well.  They are attached now.

Next project was to work on the apron for Cora's Little Red Riding Hood Halloween costume.  Her mom sent me the dress (jumper) she found on ebay and a yard of yellow fabric to make a little matching apron.  I cut off several strips to make a waist-band - tie and then sewed the rest into a double layer, with the fold at the bottom.  I liked how simply that worked out- but using the double format limits the ability to shorten it and add details without sewing through both layers.  But it will probably be more stable that way, anyway.  I wonder if I should put a bit of interfacing in the hem?  No - probably wouldn't lay nicely if it's too stiff.

It's yellower than the picture shows (too much daylight, not enough flash).  It will be pretty short, but she wants the trim on the bottom of the dress to show, so it needs to be.   I'm thinking I could add a little decorative machine stitching around the hem and maybe the waistband.  Maybe a pocket.

The next thing I decided to pick up was the "Baby Quilt Two."   This has been UFO #1 since the day I started quilting, since it is made up of the left over stack-n-wack hexagons that were my first foray into quilting.  That quilt went to my older granddaughter for her birthday in July, so my goal is to finish this one in time for the younger one's bd in November.  Good to have a deadline.   I'd sort of procrastinated (ok, not sort of - seriously procrastinated) on it, because I designed in on paper before knowing anything about quilting or having any experience.

This was an earlier sketch, the actual piece is not quite the same as this one -
don't go crazy trying to correlate it like I just did!

The woven design requires lots of set-in piecing, or whatever it's called.  And it can't be put together in blocks because all the pieces need to interlock with those above and below.

But when I got started, it didn't seem nearly as bad as I'd remembered.  I had almost completed two of the six rows, and in a few hours Sunday evening I got about halfway through the third row.  So I am optimistic I might actually be able to finish it in time for the birthday, November 3.  

The only problem now is that the DH has dismantled the living room to refinish the floor, and wants to paint before hand.  I have NO ideas on a color scheme for the room,  if we're replacing the area rug and most of the furniture - anything goes, and I just don't have an idea in mind!  So that has to take priority.