A wallhanging for springtime

It took a couple of years, but I have finally completed my Edyta Sitar wallhanging, from her book, Seasonal Silhouettes.

This is the April design. Hand applique, with a bit of embroidery (the centers of the purple flowers) and one bead (for the robin's eye). My only other change to the pattern was to piece the background. The completed wallhanging is about 18" x 22".

I really need to find myself another applique project. I do love applique.

I machine quilted it using Aurifil thread in a couple different colors... I can't remember which ones though. Doh! (The perils of waiting so long to blog about a project!)

I finished quilting and binding it last fall. The label reflects that date. I put it on before I realized I forgot the hanging tabs. Oops!

So, it sat around for a few months until I got motivated last week and added the hanging tabs and buttons. I took a strip of fabric, folded it lengthwise (right sides together) and stitched around one short edge and the long edge. Then I turned it right-side-out, added a buttonhole on the finished end, and then stitched it to the back of the quilt, trying to keep my stitching right in the ditch of the binding.

Since I couldn't actually use it until I got the hanging tabs on there, I am calling this one a 2016 finish.

"Spring Showers" now resides in my hallway. At least, it does for now... I still have visions of having a lovely collection of seasonal wallhangings to switch out. :)

All about those borders...

Borders for four different projects, all cut and ready to attach:

Gotta get to work so I can get these tops finished!

In progress - a spring wallhanging

I started this piece back in May (or maybe late April?) and finally completed the applique over the weekend. It took me awhile as I am waaay out of practice and had to take it pretty slowly.

The design is by Edyta Sitar and can be found in her book, Seasonal Silhouettes. This is the "April" block. Bonus: I didn't have to reverse the pattern for hand applique! Included in the book are full-size placement diagrams, so I was able to trace all of my pieces from that.

In the picture above, you can see a couple of the fabrics I'm auditioning for borders. I'm not quite ready to decide, so I'll muse a bit longer. I plan to finish this up and hang it in my entryway. I think this will work as a "generic" wallhanging so now it won't just be Christmas/Easter/Halloween all year! My ultimate goal is to try and have a nice collection of seasonal wallhangings to display through the year.