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Warming Up


I'm warming up for quilting project and finishing up some quilt blocks that have been unfinished for far too long.  Killing 2 birds with one, stone so to speak.

The first bird is this blue jay.  He's from the book Go Wild with Quilts by Margaret Rolfe.  The book isn't quite 20 years old and this was done early in my quilting career - the most complicated quilting I had ever tried at the time.  No, it wasn't paper pieced.  I cut templates for every piece.  I imagined making most of the quilts in the book.  So far, this is the only one of tried.  But, I leafed through the book again recently and still want to make the quilts in it.  Maybe someday.



This hexagon block is only about 5 years old - the result of an English paper piecing class.  I didn't enjoy the work so at a certain point I gave up with what I had completed.  One small flower hexagon became a
potholder and the rest became this lump of hexagons. 



The final block is of Pikes Peak.  It is the logo of a local quilt store and was their block in a shop hop 10 years ago.  I was in the store last week and they still have the pattern and kit available (but the fabric is different - I like mine better).

This was my first and only attempt at machine buttonhole applique.  It turned out to be not my style.  I was always going to make it the center of a medallion quilt but that never happened.  Instead I just quilted it and added a border.  I think it will make a great wall hanging.

It was hard to decide how to quilt it.  I didn't want to leave the sky and mountains blank.  I outlined everything else and wanted it to be evenly quilted.  I ended up quilting along color variations in the fabric to give the illusions of clouds in the sky and ravines along the side of Pikes Peak.  I'm glad I waited 10 years - I've had a lot of practice in those years I love the way it turned out.




With 3 mini quilts behind me I'm ready to start quilting a bigger one - it's my project for this weekend.  And I'm glad to have a few more unfinished projects.  But, I still have a lot more to finish.
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