Okay, So I'm a Little Slow...

January is loooong gone. February is almost finished but I got the Bunny Hill BOM January block finally done last night.

I'm very new to applique but I just needed to try this. It's so cute and since I collect baskets, I thought the theme was very appropriate for me. I tried to machine applique (I did one star) and I like the look but didn't LOVE it. So I did a bunch of research and did a blanket stitch by hand on the rest of the block. I think that's why it took me so long to do! I backed my pieces with Steam-a-steam 2 and when they are all layered... what a PITA to get the needle all the way through the pieces! But it's done and I really like it. I really liked that Monica used a ric-rac handle on her January block. Lots of people followed her lead... me too!

My block looks very 4th of July-ish with the red, white and blue but when I think of January, I think "blue". I don't know. It works for me.

Now it's time to press my fabric and get working on February's block. Hopefully I will have that one at least STARTED before the March block is premiered!

Enjoy your day!
Jen

I'm DETERMINDED

to join in and make the Bunny Hill BOM. I've seen such pretty blocks out there! So last night, I stopped at Joann's for some beads for a project I'm working on and bought a book to help me better understand applique. I also picked up some very cute fabric that just came in for 50% off. Can't beat that. $6.99 a yard normally for half off? I'll take two! I compared the yardage I got from Joann's to yardage I purchased at my LQS for $9.00 a yard and truly, I don't see the difference in the more expensive fabric line that Joann's carries to the LQS one. I don't think I'm going to rule Joann's out all the time. Anything I can get on sale is worth it to me. On top of that, quilt shops in my area are few and far between. I have one 10 minutes from my house but it carries very traditional fabrics and I like more happy, whimsical stuff. That's where online shopping comes in handy but sometimes I want to get started NOW and not wait for mail to arrive.

ANNNYWAY...
I thought and thought and thought some more about the fabric I bought and scooted out to Joann's on my lunch hour and bought more! Lots more.

So, I picked up some fabric to throw in my very little fabric stash and I bought some for the Bunny Hill BOM - since I don't have much of a fabric stash to speak of yet. Lots of scraps but no real yardage.

I have everything but my background fabric. I haven't decided if I want to stick with one background fabric for every block or match/coordinate the background to the fabric colors in the applique. Either way, I got nothing yet. Hard decision to make since we don't know what the future blocks are going to look like. I'm going to think about it and go out this weekend to my LQS and pick something up. I'll see what strikes my fancy when I get there.

Enjoy your day!
Jen :)