Discouraged

I am feeling somewhat discouraged with my Christmas Sampler Quilt. I am finished with all the blocks, and now is the time to decide on sashing and borders. When I lay the blocks out, I see a strong difference between the blocks with bright green and red and the blocks with darker greens and reds. Do I go with light sashing or dark sashing? Can't decide.
So I thought maybe I should make two quilts, one with lighter fabrics, one with the darker fabrics. So I made another block with the lighter fabrics.

It turns out that I really don't have enough fabric left to make more blocks. So I decided I could put the darker blocks in the corners and the lighter blocks on the inside. Great! How about auditioning some sashing colors.

Here is yellow...

I have a very fun red and green stripe...

I bought some green just to see how it looked....

Or how about no sashing?

I have always liked sampler quilts with sashing, for each block is unique and needs to stand on its own. I may just put this one away for a while. It won't be done for Christmas anyways.

Times like these requires some chocolate. But guess what I found in my cupboard? A jar of Kalamata Olives! Oh, boy, do they taste good and I am feeling so much better now!!!

Doing some machine applique!

I got out my old sewing machine to make a costume for daughter. It is fun to see the two machines, side by side!
The older machine has a zigzag stitch, so I decided to work on the Christmas quilt applique blocks. This is the first time I have done machine applique. I had to go very slow; it took patience to stitch around all the curves and tight angles. But I don't think I did half bad!

I thought I wouldn't like the precision work, but it was actually relaxing to do. Still, I am glad there are only six applique blocks in this quilt!

New projects

I've been cutting large floral prints (that came in a box of garage sale fabric) for a modern graduation quilt for the church. I love the vibrant colors! Black will be used for sashing.
I have been inspired by all the beautiful fall quilts showing up on quilting blogs. I found the gorgeous Thomas Kincaid fabric on the right at Joanns, then pulled some fabrics from my stash that I can pair up with the main fabric. I bought the leaf print and the light yellow stripe for some variety. Now I will wait for inspiration to strike! I already have an idea that involves appliqued leaves.

I have also seen some very fun fall quilts using whimsical fabrics. While at Joanns, I picked up a few pieces of Debbie Mumm's fall line...

...and started playing! This will be a smaller wall quilt. I have lots of ideas for this one, including turkeys, squirrels, leaves, sunflowers, pumpkins.........

I have so many quilt projects going; I am not one to sit down and make a quilt. I prefer to make bits and pieces at a time...variety spices up my sewing life! I am hoping in January to start machine quilting the five tops that are ready to go! For now, I am having fun with the creative process of all my WIPS.

Here is one last picture of my carrot harvest. These are so crisp and yummy! And there are more in the garden! Hip Hip