Rummage Sale

A couple of weeks ago I hit one of my favorite church rummage sales. They always have great stuff and tremendous bargains. I picked up a box of cotton fabric scraps, which of course to me is like treasure. I whipped up this little table top quilt, inspired by Finn's similar little quilt. I used the stretched stars setting on mine. All these fabrics, except for the black inner border, were from the scraps. Here are a few closeups:
There were scraps with a cute "State Fair" motif.
I love this little farm couple.


There were only these tiny pieces of the little clown faces. I like the way the second one has his tongue sticking out.

The whole quilt is 33x33. The inner squares are 4" and the outer ones are 3".


I've also resolved to finish some of my UFOs. I've got a few quilts hanging in the closet that need borders. I seem to poop out when it comes to putting borders on quilts. I've been designing and sewing the border onto this quilt in fits and starts. I want to finish it just so I can get my design wall back.

So what have I accomplished with this resolve?
Yep, I've been playing in the scrap drawer and I've started a new project.

Asiatic Lilies

Here's the latest 12x12 piece in my series pairing bird and flower images. This piece began as a home dec fabric sample. I've been looking for fabrics on which I can embellish in order to create a new composition. I was attracted to this lily fabric, and I found some clip art pieces to add both more flowers and a bird.


Both lilies and Stellar's Jays are prevalent in the region where I live. The Stellar's Jay is a bird common to the west. Though the Blue Jay is more well known, they're not native to the west.


I used a drawing of a Blue Jay for the basic body shape, and then studied a friend's photos for the Stellar's Jay coloration.
I drew the shapes on water-soluble stabilizer, and then stitched through the whole thing.

The embroidery is almost all chain stitch. I like the idea of using one stitch for the whole composition. I did add a few bullion stitches for the pistils of the flowers.

I'm looking for ideas for my next composition. It's fun to choose the bird, flower, and background fabric for the next project.