I had some fun with applique and made these two Kawaii fox cushions - with a pocket for treasures or the tooth fairy. I sketched out a little fox design and split it down into the necessary applique pieces, then got to stitching...


This one I just went fmq mad, I did some outline stitching and then completely embroidered the eyes and nose by stitching round and round and all messy, it was very enjoyable!



The next one I used zig zag applique for a softer, totally different look. I hand embroidered the eyes, mouth and some decorative grass and clouds. I added a sweet button nose.


I made them towards the end of last year and submitted them to a magazine competition but I didn't win. I did feel foolish for a little while (no acknowledgement, no feedback) but actually I am really pleased with them and had fun using different techniques. I'm hoping that a lovely buyer on my Etsy shop will agree they are pretty special and give them a happy home.


Then last week I had a true reason to feel foolish when I rushed in to make a start on a needle turn applique block for the butterfly quilt. I felt quite confident and it wasn't going too badly, until I had this and I couldn't get past thinking I was doing something wrong...


Yes because the flowers are supposed to be in the corners - I'm doing a variation of the one below. I had traced it all wrong and have now started over, at least I had a little practice before starting the 'real' block!

Indiana Rose Quilt Block by Carrie Hall


Finally after showing you my Polar Bear Block the other day I kept getting that nagging 'you haven't pre-washed your red fabrics' feeling and because a few of you commented about it I threw my pile of red fabrics for the QAL in the wash. After all this is red and WHITE. I don't normally pre-wash at all but the last thing I want is to ruin a quilt when it's done and that little bit of preparation really didn't take much time. Thanks to Linda for our little email conversation and I will be soaking this block just to be sure too. I'm going to make this one as foolproof as I can!



Linking up:

at Quilty Habit this week
and finish it up friday at crazy mom quilts