Design Wall Monday 6-18-12

Beach"es"Cape is finished. This was such a fun piece to work on.

The final touch was added yesterday which was all the teensy seashells I found at Shackleford Banks last weekend. It was just one of those unusually good shelling days - such fun. And I knew as I was picking up those shells, some about the size of a grain of rice, that they would end up on this piece.

So, since Beach"es"Cape was wrapping up, I decided to start a birdhouse-scape. The floral motif embroidery is from an autumn fabric I bought years ago - I only had a small scrap left but there was one whole motif in that scrap so I did a mimic style embroidery over it (got that idea from my friend Ruth!). The butterfly and bluebird patterns are from the book "Embroidered Birds" by Helen M Stevens. I transferred the patterns from the book onto white cotton fabric. Once the embroidery was finished I used an fusible web to help stabilize the pieces a bit, cut them out and added them to the birdhouses. I also used this piece as an opportunity to experiment with some of the decorative stitches on my BabyLock. I'm naming this piece "It's A Bluebird Day."

Hmmm ... what to do next? I have not a clue but I'm sure all the lovely posts on Patchwork Times Design Wall Monday will inspire me. I do have the Artrageous Quilters grab bag challenge  to work on. And I'm waiting on the July blocks for the craftsy.com block of the month project to be published. And  I bought fabric for a pair of pillowcases. And there is a messy sewing room that needs some cleaning attention. No shortage of things to do ...