Not drowning, just waving!

I seem to have stepped on to a sidetrack recently... I keep fiddling with all sorts of little projects and don't seem to get any "serious" quilting done. I started making some place mats for Easter. I don't really like using patterns, so even though I started off with one, I ended up in a completely different place.

When searching for the right fabrics in my stash I came across this lovely birdhouse fabric that I bought ages ago and have been unable to cut into. Right next to it was some Bali batik that seemed to go well with it, but I decided I needed something brown as a contrast. In my box of brown fabrics I found one with feathers - perfect! And before I knew it I was cutting and stitching and a new project was well under way.

The placemats didn't get finished before the holidays, but I have made an effort today and now I'm ready to put the binding on. Incidentally, I intended to make two identical ones, but that got too boring, so I ended up using a motif from Cross Stitcher Magazine for the other one - I knew I'd never get round to cross stitching this one, but a quick sketch of the picture and voila, a great pattern for appliqué. Is that stealing? Sorry Margaret Sherry! Pictures tomorrow, I think...



I bought these sweet paper napkins for Easter and the more I look at that great hen with her handbag, the more I see it as another wall hanging in applique and freestyle embroidery. But I won't go there, not yet...

And then there are the cross-stitch projects. I am working on the teapot one as a present for a friend, and of course there is my Emily Dickinson sampler that might get a few stitches now and again.

And then there is knitting. I have stitched the two front panels of a black jacket, I have started a red and black scarf and then there is the horribly expensive yarn I bought for a new Clapotis. I haven't even started on that one, although I'm calling that self-restraint ;-) Finish the jacket first, and then we'll see...

Throw in a few pincushions and some snow people and I have enough unfinished projects to last for ages, but I really want to start a new quilt, she wailed! Something a bit more artistic - I have all sorts of ideas, but this backlog of half finished items are pulling me down. I have to finish some of them soon and then my carrot will be that wall quilt for myself using Solvy, yarn, beads and miles of rayon thread. Hmmm, I'd better get that binding on and I'll be one step closer to that exciting project...

Sorry about all the mixed metaphors - I'm in a muddle here :-D