I’m getting super excited to see how this is all going to look put together!  I finished up the last block, which I wanted to do free style and add in most of my label information.  I will still put a small label on the back after I get it quilted to give the information on who quilted it, the date it was quilted, and the pattern designer, Little Miss Shabby (click link to get all the block designs and past  BOM instructions).  But my part is getting done this year!  I mean it!

Here’s the last of the 12 blocks:

I couldn’t resist adding Hello Kitty to my birdie blocks.  My daughter has always loved Hello Kitty and I will therefore always have a reminder of this time in our lives when she was this age.

I’m hoping the embroidery threads don’t show through when I get the batting behind it.  In this picture, I have a sheet of white paper behind the block and you can see the thread tails a little through the white background.  This is the only block that I varied from 100% redwork.  I wanted it to stand out and be extra special.

The centers of these blocks are 8″ finished.  I need to research some ideas (or ask a few of my favorite bloggers) what to do about quilting in these areas.  Of course I don’t want the quilting to go over the embroidery threads, but I don’t think I can leave 8″ unquilted either.  If you have some ideas – please share!!

I also spent a couple of hours trying to work with my EQ5 software to come up with a layout design for the finished quilt.  Now, I haven’t really used the instruction book or anything to do EQ5 – I just thought it should be very intuitive.  It IS NOT very intuitive.  Or I am not that bright – you choose.  It was actually quite frustrating and I could see ways to make it so much easier to understand and use.  I’m thinking about downloading a Quilt App on my iPad and trying it out.  I don’t remember what it was called, but it is like $15 – so it isn’t cheap (for an app).  If anyone out there can suggest good software for just playing around with layouts and designs and that can also upload fabric swatches and such – i would love the feedback!

Here’s my layout plan.  Right now, the sashing would be 1″ finished and the embroidery blocks are 12″ finished.  The setting blocks would have a 2″ finished square in the corners to mix in with the surrounding squares of the birdie blocks.  I selected On Point layout in EQ5, but then I couldn’t customize the setting blocks – so those four corner squares are hand drawn on the printout.  I think you get the drift…

With this layout, the finished size would be about 65 x 82.  A good twin size.  Too big for a wall hanging, but perhaps the perfect accessory as a bedspread for my daughters bedroom.

Next steps are to create the setting blocks and side triangles.  Trying to decide on the background fabrics for those blocks though.  Stick with all white, or perhaps get a coordinating small, light print for the 6 squares and go with white on the border triangles?  Hmmm… decisions still to be made it appears.

Hope you are having a great start to October!  Just three months until 2014 – SEAMS CRAZY to me!

All the best,

Jennifer

I forgot how fast I can stitch these blocks up!  I finished Birdie Stitch Block 12 today:

I focused on just red and green fabrics for the block, given the Christmas theme.

Close-up:

Thought I would also share a picture of the back of the block, just for grins.

Per the instructions, I use the entire 6 strands of embroidery floss to do the backstitching.  For this block, I used exactly one of those small $1 skeins of DMC floss – Red Color 666 (or 999 if you prefer).

Last block to be designed today.  I am substituting for the June block with a variation of a signature block.  Once done – I can start to play with the layout options.  That will certainly be the toughest part of this quilt project I think!

Hope your weekend is going well!  Thanks for stopping by!

Jennifer