July Stars and Stitchery Complete!

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Talk about feeling the wind at my back!  We're not even half way through July, and my July UFO Challenge commitment is finished.  This morning, I sat in my pajamas doing embroidery until this "Snow Birds" stitchery was complete.

I really like this one.  Maybe it's because we're winter snowbirds too.  I just think the birds are cute.  So!  Along with the two "Maple Stars" I finished a few days ago,

I've reached my July goal for this quilt.  The wind is at my back now because that gives me two and a half months to work on the largest of the stitcheries.

You can see it across the top of the stitcheries in this image.  (I go back and forth over whether this one is the largest, or the one in the lower right-hand corner.)  In any case, when that one is finished, I'll just have the very center one of the snow people on the toboggan, and then I'll be ready to sew the stitchery panel together.  There's still the little matter of the embroidery on the seams of the blocks, but I think I can do that on my sewing machine.  (I just need to make sure my thread matches the rest of the embroidery floss.)

I'm so excited to have made so much progress on this one.  I loved the quilt when I first laid eyes on it in a quilt shop.  All the embroidery put me off, however.  It took me a long time to decide to buy the pattern.  Then, when I bought it, I started on the first stitchery right away.  Then it sat for months and I made no progress on it.  This is another quilt I never actually thought I would finish.  As it is, the end is in sight!  In retrospect, I don't know why I was so put off by the embroidery.  I've actually enjoyed the hand work involved, and I like having a project I can just pick up and work on for short periods of time without a lot of fuss.  It's very relaxing.  I'm already plotting my next embroidered quilt, but that's another post.

I can see now why hand-quilters feel so passionate about their craft.  I might even decide to give that a try on a small scale.  The other thing I've realized is that when I work on these for just one length of embroidery floss each morning, they actually go pretty fast.  When I say one length of embroidery floss, I'm talking about one length about 18 inches long, and then divided into three because I'm only working with two strands of a six-strand length of floss.

So that's not the only thing I've been working on this week.  Yesterday, I got a pretty good start on another row for my Peaches & Dreams quilt.

This is a pattern by Judy Laquidara.  When I look at the picture of Judy's quilt, I realize how busy mine is.

I sort of like all the colors and patterns in this, but when I add the next row of blocks, I'm wondering if it will get to be too much.  I'm in the process of deciding whether to put a plain orange sashing between the blocks.  What do you think?  Yesterday, I decided to name this quilt "Sunshine on My Shoulders."

So now, I need to get on with my day.  I'm embarrassed to say that I'm still sitting in my pajamas as I write this.  On the other hand, quilting is not a sport for wienies.  It involves time and sacrifice!  I know you will agree with me about this.  I really need to weed the garden, but our weather has been cold, gray, and rainy for the past two days.  I'm afraid it will just be a mud hole if I go out there now.  This might be a day for working inside the house.  It's definitely an "In the Kitchen" kind of day, and later on, I'll post about my latest kitchen extravaganza that results in meals-a-plenty.  For now, maybe I'll just make the bed and see where I end up next.