Just Four More Sleeps!

It's almost time for this year's mystery to begin!  I was able to get my binding sewn onto my En Provence quilt yesterday and started stitching it down last night. There's no chance I will get it finished before Friday but I am very close! I decided to bind it with green since that was the only fabric from the quilt that I was able to find (Note to self: set binding fabric aside rather than putting everything away!) and I really like how it looks. I will post a picture as soon as it is completely finished.

It's hard to believe that it has been over a week since we've been back from Shipshewana. What a wonderful retreat!  Of course I didn't get nearly as much accomplished as I had hoped. I had prepped weeks 5 through 12 of my Starlite Skies SBOW and only managed to finish one week's worth and make a start on the next. I finished week 6 over the weekend and started week 7. I hope to keep plugging along with this one even after the mystery starts.  It will be at the top of my 2018 UFO list as I can't wait to see how it turns out and am looking forward to trying my hand at custom quilting on it.

Now for a few pictures of things I didn't do!  Di Ford was a wonderful teacher. I had three days of classes with her in Shipshewana and thoroughly enjoyed them even though I wasn't at all productive. She provided a lot of guidance on selecting and cutting fabrics for broderie perse. I still don't really like the technique but am willing to give it a go on her class projects.

Here's Di's quilt from the first class, "Bally Hall Birds".  By the end of the class I had shopped for fabrics to make it a little less pink and precisely cut my 20.5" center block (precision required because of the broderie perse border - no pressure!). Definitely nothing picture-worthy!

Then there was day two, "Couronne d'oiseaux" (or something like that).  Di shared with us that the quilt was named as part of a little classroom comptetition when she was teaching it in Holland. The name in English is the "Birdy Wreath" - I will have to stick with that one because my French is terrible. 

I absolutely love the pieced inside border section of this quilt! Di actually pieced hers by machine - she said she did it to save time, but I am thinking that had to be a real pain. Definitely a better candidate for hand piecing (although still a huge amount of work).  Again, at the end of the day I had a center cut out. Nothing more. Starting to sense a trend?

Day three of workshops was the "Giggleswick Mill Sampler" from Di's second book. This time I not only cut out my background, but I cut out a lot of the broderie perse flowers, too.  I did not get them placed on my background, though, so I came home with a bunch of loose pieces.  This is probably my favorite of the three as it combines broderie perse with more piecing.

That sums up what I didn't accomplish, so moving on to plan what I hope to actually accomplish next. I have landed on my colors for the mystery and am ready to go!

I will be substituting the darker teal for Bonnie's chocolate brown as she said this color needs strong contrast.  I am substituting the tans for the coral - I think the values are similar. Hopefully these will work well in the design.  Only four more sleeps until the fun begins!