Playtime!

Let me just start off by saying that our temps have dropped and the sky is an all-too-familiar gray. I am not complaining however. I've heard about the heat and the humidity the rest of you (in the US) are suffering. I know what that kind of weather is like and will contentedly sit back and enjoy what looks like November here in August!

A couple of posts back I showed a picture of two stacks of batting pieces: one for journal quilts, the other for postcard-size quilts. I have not yet begun my journal quilt for this month (hanging my head in shame) but I did allow myself the pleasure of making a postcard quilt today just for the fun of it. This is something of an accomplishment for me. In the past I've always felt that any project I undertook had to have a purpose, even if I wasn't exactly sure what that purpose would be. Granted, this postcard quilt could be sent to someone someday, but the point is that I made it just to give myself the opportunity to have fun with needle and thread. To play. So I got into my scraps and found this print of a Jim Shore cat who turned out to be almost exactly the right size. And then I embellished it/her:

First I seed stitched (or chicken scratched, depending on who you learn it from) around the cat. The background right around the cat was a slightly different color than the area closer to the edges so I used two strands of rayon floss, one blue and one purple, close to the cat and two strands of blue only around the perimeter. Then I did giant cross stitches in yellow - freehand - at the top and the bottom. There are just-barely-green plastic flower beads along the top border. The giant hot pink and lime green flower appliques along the bottom are held on with a sprinkling of seed beads in their centers. (If I eventually decided to mail this I will have to go back in and stitch those flowers down more securely.)

There's no back on the postcard yet, just the fabric and the batting with my stitches going through those two layers. I'll figure out how I want to finish the edges and cover the back if and when I decide to do something more with it. But, as far as I'm concerned, this is not a UFO. The state it's in now is precisely what I was aiming for when I began work on it so it is finished. Anything beyond this is gravy. My intention is to do one of these once a week or twice a month, depending on my health and other projects, and just sort of let them pile up so I can observe my progress overall at some point down the road. This is a learning experience for me, nothing more. I have to say that I'm really pleased with how this one turned out though! ;- )

By the way, Reilly sends his regards:

(Got any treats?)