Rx for January...work with bright fabrics!

 have my 12 center blocks hand appliqued for the Lori Smith's "Folk Art Applique" quilt.  Each block will finish at 9 inches.

This has been the perfect hand stitching pattern for this time of the year in Michigan...there are a lot of gloomy, cold days with linoleum skies.

The picture on the original pattern looked as if solid, saturated fabrics were used.  I decided to use tone-on-tone bright fabrics, hoping they would read as solids, but with more zing and pep.

It's time to play with the layout and order of the blocks, sew them together, and start thinking about a border.  I think I will come up with an original border design...perhaps a swag. 

 

Should I put eyes on the animals?  I think the original pattern gave eyes only to the chicken and bird...

I've enjoyed the simplicity of the design elements.  This pattern works up nicely using the glue stick method of hand applique.

I carefully trimmed the black background away from behind the larger applique shapes, especially the yellow ones.

I found I needed to stitch in good light because I soon discovered that the black background really magnified misplaced stitches!  I'm still loving the YLI silk thread for hand applique.

 

The sunflower block just may be my favorite...

 

I have trouble with January...anyone else in the same boat??  I have a love/hate relationship with the holidays.  I had such a good mojo going with the weight loss and exercise in 2012.  Now I am on a plateau.  Lots of walking and exercise would burn me past the plateau and get me on my way again.  But the January weather can be bad for walking...and for mojo.  Sometimes it is just dangerous to be out there due to the ice, snow, and/or cold.

I whipped up this little top as a sample for the shop.  It is called "We're Chicken," by Button Weeds.  I really liked making up the scrappy half square triangles.  I love scrappy...I don't have to make decisions about fabrics...they're ALL good!  Right now the chickens are running around blindly...I will add button eyes after it's quilted.  They have little prairie point wings...so plucky!

Good-bye January...I hope you take the doom and gloom with you!

In stitches,

Teresa   :o)