Six Chicks

There was plenty of time for sewing yesterday, so I was able to make more progress on "And on that Farm." Yesterday's task was to make the six chicks. Aren't these cute?

When the piece is all fused, I'll be embroidering eyes onto their faces. For now, I was able to fuse a few of them to the apples previously completed.

Today I'll be working on the vegetables and herbs, and I'm hoping to finish the basket. If I can get that far, I'll be able to fuse the whole thing together.

While I was working on the chicks, I was also cutting the background blocks for the Snow Globes project. Here's what the whole quilt will look like when it's finished. This image is from Crabapple Hill Studio's website.

Ordinarily, I don't pay much attention to the selvage edges, but some of you do; so here's the pedigree on the fabric I found for the background.

The object of my desire was a cream tone-on-tone that would suggest snow in some way. I wasn't picky...polka dots would have done just fine. When I saw this fabric, I knew my search was over. The snowflakes are very subtle and hard to see unless positioned correctly in the light. It's perfect for an embroidery background.

While I was inspecting the selvage, I noticed this too.

Also, I have some fabrics that will be perfect for the remainder of the piecing (when I get that far). The pattern specified 3 1/4 yards for the pieced portions of the blocks and the binding. I only had 3 yards of the polka dot on top, but if I run short, I can use the stripe at the bottom for the binding.

While I was futzing around looking for fabrics, my furry furriend came in to check out the status of his catnip bowl.

Do NOT snap that flash at me!

Of course, I always ignore these requests for no flashing and take the picture anyway. From there, we got on with the helping portion of his visit. Cats are very helpful (and trusting) when it comes to cutting.

Fortunately, I convinced him to moooove along, and I was able to finish cutting the background blocks and backings for the whole project. Now my take-along project kits are complete and stacked for packing in the fifth wheel (packing to commence shortly).

The embroidery projects are on the right. The yellow sack in the middle contains some small quilt kits, and those two bins on the left are completed blocks and fabrics for some large quilts that need to be sewn together. There is no effing way I'll get all of this done on our trip, but you wouldn't want to run out of sewing projects while on the road, now would you? That would mean trips to the fabric store, and fabric acquisition runs, and more thread, and, and, and....oh...wait a minute. Maybe I should rethink this strategy.

So I'm moving right along with the last of the Hocuspocusville blocks (top left bin in the image above). My goal is to finish it by the end of August.

It's a small block insofar as the quantity of stitching, and so I'm feeling optimistic. That's next on my list for this morning.

While I'd hoped to put off grocery shopping until Thursday, today seems like a fine day, and so I'll fit that in too. Other than that...NBS. Just the kind of day I like.