Back Again

Yes, I've been gone a while. Life sort of took off at a gallop and left me behind, grasping for the reins. It's been busy - Zebediah went back to school, I've been working two jobs, and the fall semester started at the campus on which I work.

This two jobs thing is nice for paychecks. Too bad I'm not spending the 'extra' money on fabric. Nope. Not at all. (Well, except for tomorrow - tomorrow is the Wisconsin Quilt Expo in Madison) I'm being a responsible adult and paying off the credit card debt and school loans. Yay, me. **stalks off grumbling about adulthood**

So anyway, two jobs makes for not much quilting time. However, I have a half hour commute to and from work each day. I should get my act together and put together some hand-sewing. I *was* working on the applique for a challenge quilt, but I finished putting the top together tonight. I need more hand-sewing projects. really.

The challenge top is to the left... They're Jay McCarroll's Habitat. I honestly didn't really like the fabrics at first. It took a while for me to warm up to them - like, I had my stack of fat eighths in hand for a month before an idea came  to mind.

Overall, I'm quite happy with this so far. I wish my applique were better - it's a little bumpy in places. I probably should have basted everything down instead of working it freehand,  but live and learn. I plan on adding sashiko style embroidery for quilting, combined and contrasting with straight line machine quilting. I'll be binding it in the navy solid, I think. I want to find a marigold solid to back this with.

It measures about 24" inches wide. I'm not sure how long it is. I didn't actually measure from top to bottom, as this design sort of grew on its own. I started with struggling with the need to ensure that the challenge fabrics have a chance to shine on their own, which was hand-in-hand with the problem of design. I ended up deciding to contrast a traditional design against the ultra modern fabrics, which is how I selected the Dresden plate pattern. I wanted to incorporate more of the prints, which is why i added the top and bottom borders.

I'll be calling this one "Urban Worm". Now to get started on the solids challenge top.