Scrappy at Heart

In my heart of hearts, I must be a scrappy quilter.

 When I begin a project, I say to myself pick out 6 fabrics and stick with just those for this one.  That way your quilt will be coordinated perfectly and you won't have to do all the second guessing of your choices part way through.  So sensible and I don't know why my brain wants to derail this idea...but at some point, I always remember a great pattern fabric that would look even better than what I originally chose, then out comes the pile and I'm awash with choices again.  The next thing I have 10 or 12 or more fabrics I'm trying to juggle.

  And at about that point, I speak in my stern teacher voice to myself, stay with just these now, what ever else you do, don't add anymore.   That last is silly I know and I don't possess a stern voice; my voice is the weakest part of me, I actually can't physically shout.  When Hubby says to me stop whispering it is not only because he is half deaf, I really do have a soft voice.

Ok, where was I?  Oh yes, scrappy at heart.  I think I like to go off the grid when it comes to quilting.  I am never happier than when making those Quilty 360 circles where I get to use whatever I can find in my remnants basket.  More about that little project later.

How about you?  Are you scrappy at heart too?

We had two days of milder temperatures but rather dreary weekend weather overall.  I couldn't take photos indoors and I wanted to show you my quilting on "Shiny and Brite".  Sunny breaks were promised for today and we have them.  So I've just taken my photos and now here I am sitting in my pet chair with a large coffee and talking to you.

I mentioned the "Shiny and Brite" piece is now a sandwich.  Used my kitchen island again for lay out and a ridiculous number of pins.  But they work.

 I have spent about 5 hours so far hand quilting the inside portion around the wreath.

 I expect to use the machine to stitch the outside, stitch in the ditch or something similar.  I am pleased with the thread I am using.  First I used plain white and suddenly remembered I had this wonderful variegated spool in pale pinks, blues and greens. It struck me that it was the perfect thread to be using for this colourful wreath.

 I was glad I'd worked a few circles with the plain white though as it gave me a chance to practice my quilting stitch and get a bit of a rhythm going.

 You do have to break the 10 foot rule though, to see the variance in the subtle thread colours.  It's taking a while, slow stitching and, of course, being me, I'm wondering now why I chose to stitch such tiny circles, why not bigger ones.  But I am liking how the small ones are looking overall.

I should mention the batting which was recommended to me at the Mad About Patchwork shop.
Hobbs Tuscany Collection which is 90% silk and is a dream to stitch through.  Apparently it makes me a "discriminating" quilter to use it, LOL. But I must say it is wonderful stuff.

It is also enjoyable for a change to have stitching that does not involve counting.

So did you take part in the Black Friday sales?  Any bargains?  I did a little online shopping I'll talk about soon.
Hope your Monday is not feeling at all like a Monday!