WIP Wednesday – Chasing away the Winter blues

The centre medallion from my MAO quilt. yes, there is an extra seam in there….don’t ask!

I started this project with a hiss and a roar, but it’s now whimpering in the corner, calling out…. “Finish Me”.

I confess to having gotten a little distracted of late, finishing off one quilt,  and starting another. Then there’s the time spent putting things in online shopping carts, then taking them out again. I keep reminding myself I will need the cash to buy fabric in person next week when we go away. 25 years married just happens to coincide with a conference over the ditch, so the in-laws will hold down the home front while we go catch some sun in Oz. After the Winter and Spring we have had so far, I am looking forward to seeing the sun.

This section of the Midnight at the Oasis quilt represents my first excursion into paper piecing. It had its ups and downs. The first problem was that I designed the template wrong, but that was surmountable (in future I will remember to not add a quarter inch to the fold line, duh!). The second issue was engaging my brain to understand how to attach the various pieces together. I was almost ready to give up and go seek help, but after taking a break for a few hours, I puzzled it out.

I cheated a bit with the centre appliqué section, inserting just one circle of fabric, and satin stitching it around the edges to fix. I came to the conclusion that learning one new skill per section was sufficient.

I have the petal blocks almost ready for the first border, minus one I filched for the previous quilt. I need to blanket stitch around the petals….should take “just” a day or so. As you can see, I am aiming for “bright and cheerful”. Bright enough to chase away the Winter blues.

Hope your week is going well.

Linking up eventually with WIP Wednesday and Lets Bee Social.