A little more Sewing

Feeling good about a finish under my belt this week, I decided to do a little more sewing.  And chose this – “Winter Quilt Festival”.  This panel was a Christmas gift from my quilty pen friend Carol, who lives in South Dakota.  She had stitched on two borders before posting it half way around the world to me as a lovely gift. 

Pinned and layered, ready to go

I had selected the backing, layered and pinned it all up, ready to stitch – sometime in the future.  So with a little spare time this week, I machine quilted in the ditch around the three straight lines in the borders.  The plan is to add this to my stitching bag and do some hand quilting in the centre of the panel.  Around those cheeky snow people, the trees, banner and the quilts in the background. 

With my stitchery project, Christmas ABCs nearing completion, this little panel will be a nice change of pace for me to start working on when I’ve finished my stitchery blocks.   It’s a long time since I’ve done hand quilting, and I’m certainly no expert, but it is nice and restful thing to do.  No doubt the Winter Quilt Festival will accompany me to caravan trips all over the country.

I should really be doing more tracing on my horse head, but to tell you the truth I’ve feeling rather intimidated by it.  As I only have a small teflon tracing mat, I think I need to buy a larger size. Or could I just use baking paper taped together?  What do the applique experts think?