So I played!

It had been awhile (years!) since I've done any machine applique.  I'd had some strips of these little squares (background) and put them together and went from there:

After fusing and stitching around the petals and leaves, I did a bit of embellishing stitches. The stems I just used a satin stitch.  I wanted a bit of depth, so the red centers are little stuffed circles that I stitched on.  Then because it's also been awhile since I did any free motion quilting on my domestic machine, I did a bit of that around the flowers and leaves and also stitch in the ditch on the border.  Doesn't show up much on the front (I used monofiliment) but on the back it does - not too bad!

Because I wanted this as a little hanger.  I used the triangles in the corners with a little loop in the center.  I took two bamboo skewers and taped together and they stabilize the top for hanging:

And my little hanging now lives on the sewing room door!

So now that I've played, I'll get down to business.

I took the 7 QFC quilt tops I've received and pulled fabrics for the backings.  Some needed to be pieced, so got that done.  Mickey always sends the binding strips and I got those stitched together and all but 2 bindings ready for once the quilts are quilted.  I'll get those quilts quilted / finished and then I'll have 13 quilts to send for the Bay Area Crisis Nursery which is the Jan/Feb charity selected by Quilters for Comfort.

Katie