Santa Quilt Progress

I have been busy in my workshop (aka quilt studio) the month of November.  Someone in my life is getting a Santa quilt.  There have been a lot of firsts for me on this one so far.  First time to really take a pattern and make it my own.  Last year I purchased this pattern from Country Appliques called Belsnickel Santas.

I chose one of the Santas and made three for the blocks.

 Then I designed a patchwork tree to go with them.

I wanted to jazz up the background for the Santas so did a crazy patchwork style for them.  I also decided I wanted to do an applique border and so far this is what I have.

Need to finish needle-turning the last three leaves 

and then add heart shaped to-yos to the centers.

(the stripes on top are the beginnings of the final borders that will finish it off.)  

This is the first time I have gotten serious with needle-turn applique and every so often my fingers needed a break from the pricking so I also have been putting in some time on the McKenna Ryan wildflower quilt I had hoped to finish this year.

Four more blocks finished and ready to be added to the others:

Clematis

Bluebonnets

Yellow Bell

Lupine

The last four have not been sewn in yet,
but this is how they will be set with the previous blocks.

And in case that was not enough I also started working my way through  Sally Collins book.  A very generous friend gifted me with and Amazon card and what better way to spend it than on quilting stuff!  This was one of my purchases.  I have already seen an improvement in the precision of my piecing, enough so that I am willing to tackle some three inch blocks.  More on those later.

Not as productive a month as I had hoped, but I am enjoying the flow of creative juices and that is something that had been missing for a while.

Have you got any projects in the works?  I would love to hear!

Blessings,

Deb