Progress

 

Finally some progress is being made on the quilting of the tree quilt.  I had about 4 false starts, which means some nasty un-sewing on my part.  I am challenged by the white background, the green trees, and the red corner blocks.  Add in a red back, and you can understand my problem with choosing a quilting thread color.  I finally settled on a grey.  Not great on the white, and not great on the other colors.  But, I think once it is washed and dried, the grey should just sink into the background and be neutral.  I took a class once on machine quilting, and the teacher said to quilt ESS....every stinking seam.  So, I am trying that approach somewhat.  I have straight quilting every horizontal and vertial major seam.  When I do the tree blocks, I free motion straight lines around the tree, and then do some meander filler.  Not sure yet what is going in the other blocks.  I may do red thread in the red blocks because they are now outlined and feel somewhat separate.  The last picture is of one of my newer coaster designs.  It is my log cabin coaster, but with a window light and a simple pine tree.  I like the red Woolfelt on the back trimmed to be an accent color.  Yesterday we took down the Christmas decs and I decided those decorations that remained in the boxes in the storage room this season have to go.  Children will get the chance to speak for them, the remaining will be put in a sale this summer.  There are actually some open spaces on the shelves!  Very motivating.  Do you think I can do the same up here in the studio?  Jerilynn