Done!

Hallelujah!
It’s done! The last block of the In Full Bloom kit is done!

Full cottage block

It took me a little over 14 hours just to iron the fusible web to the batiks, cut them out, arrange and fuse them to the background. That’s not counting the original tracing or the piecing together of the background. How do I know it took me over 14 hours? Because I listened to the both the twelfth and thirteenth Stephanie Plum books in their entirety and they run a little over 7 hours each! Now I’m caught up and ready for the fourteenth book which comes out June 17th. I’ll have to start another McKenna Ryan project to listen to it, I think. Maybe one with less parts.

I have decided, due mostly to the hard sell from Kathleen at work, to quilt them. She made very good arguments for quilting as opposed to framing. Of course, she is a lawyer, so I guess that’s what she’s good at. I’m not exactly sure when I will get to it. I need a break from them for a bit. There is also some embellishment with ribbons and beading to do on them once they are quilted. I may need to sweet talk mom into that part. She’s into that kind of thing. In my book, that falls into the “hand work” bucket.

Even though I dread hand work of any kind, the embroidery thing is really growing on me. I may need to learn to do some of that and see if I like it. Wee Wonderfuls has the cutest embroidery and stuffies patterns. And she’s from the Chicago suburbs!

On another note, it was absolutely wonderful to hear from my cousin Patty and her daughter Holly! Holly, your boys are adorable. Patty, can you please send me Kelli's email? I somehow lost it. And to answer your question: I haven't entered any contests yet. I'm chicken. I really should though, as the feedback from experts would be helpful in furthering my learning and skills.

Vicki