Monday, Monday

Thanks for all of your advice on repairing the popped seams on the wedding gift quilt. I decided to attempt to stitch the holes closed, and if it didn't look good I would keep it awhile longer and go the applique route. One hole was along a "stitch in the ditch" quilting line. I was able to tuck one fabric under the other, fold over a "seam," and machine stitch directly over my original quilting. I found it barely noticeable so I went on to the next hole. This one wasn't on a quilting line, so I pinned one fabric under the other, folded the top fabric, and hand stitched it down just like I would the back of the binding. That worked even better! My cousin's wife seemed genuinely pleased -- but I found another mistake as we sat and talked about the quilt! It was small so I let it go.

It's hard to believe our long weekend could go by so quickly, but, alas, it's almost over! I had an extra-long long weekend -- I took Friday off to join my family's women's weekend. The weather was frigid, but we stayed in a lovely lodge with wonderful views. I took lots of projects along with me, but in between eating, playing dominos, and chatting I was only able to work on a little bit of handwork. I did some more hand quilting on this quilt, and some embroidery for another project. Here's a sneak peek of the embroidery:

HMMM...I was trying to catch the last of the light as it reflected off all of the snow outside our windows. Seems I forgot to focus...

I haven't mentioned that I am taking part in Project Improv, organized by Jacquie over at Tallgrass Prairie Studio. Each participant agrees to make something improvised for herself, as well as an improvised block for a charity quilt.

The goal: "Each of us is at a different place in our level of comfort with improvisation. The task here is to identify your comfort zone and take one step (or more) outside of it. Find that level of challenge that is right for you."

My personal goal is to create with abandon. I am a planner at heart, so I chose one area of the process to improvise. I have a final product in mind, but I am not planning the steps to get to the final product. Today I pulled all of the fabrics I had in my stash in red (I'm going monochormatic) and began cutting and sewing. Here is what I have so far:

I'm very happy with the way this is coming. You'll have to tune in to see what it will become!

Finally, I'd like to mention that my "blog-friend" Tracey at Peppermint Patcher has a new venture, Imagine That... quilts." Tracey is immensely talented, and these new quilts of hers are amazing. Please stop by her new blog and wish her well in her new endeavor!