Finally...Some Progress and Pics!!

Whew! It's been busy around here! I am feverishly working to get the business paperwork done before the end of the month, birth announcements made up and sent out, a birthday quilt put together, Round Robins finished up and sent on with another new one to start...the list is endless! At least I'm getting some quilting in between the 24/7 nursings, naps and diaper changings :)

I finally have pics of the Round Robin I've been working on. It was due on the 3rd of August but the girls gave me a little extra time to get it finished since I had a baby in that timeframe!! I am very proud of the way it turned out...I have a love for cardinals since they remind me so much of my mom and I wanted to do something really special for this one. I got my inspiration for the embroidery from one of the fabrics in the center panel. I have never done this type of 'do-your-own-thing' embroidery before, but it was really a lot of fun! I drew out what I wanted and then traced it onto the fabric.

I used a simple stitch for the pine needles with a stem stitch for the center 'branch' and then a stem stitch for the brown branches, too. I embellished it with hot-fix ruby red crystals and green holly leaf buttons...both of which were new techniques to me. I've never done any embellishing on quilts before! I really wanted to rubber stamp the holly leaves...I even made my own rubber stamp from an eraser!! Then I couldn't find the right color of green fabric ink...thus the change to buttons. They're a little smaller size than what I wanted, but I think they turned out cute on it anyway :)

All of the cardinals are hand blanket stitched with a satin stitch for the beak.

I guess you'll have to stay in suspense until tomorrow to see the rest...Blogger is not playing nice right now and won't let me upload the picture of the entire quilt top. If you *really* can't wait, you can visit my webshots page here to see it.

I also have Austyn's birth announcement finished so will try and post that tomorrow, too (or you can peek at it at the link above)!