Finish Report - "Miss You! Love, Mom" ~ Dec & Feb

I never did share this project properly. Remember how our daughter, Devon, married Kyle last June? 

You can see there's a uniform involved that has taken them both far from home for some years of adventure. So, for my Christmas present, I gifted them a standing frame and an upcoming set of 12-inch minis done in duplicate so that each of us can hang them in our homes as I send them. 

The initial mini is a completely original design with a cute little snowcouple exchanging gifts in a snow scene.

I've sent them a second mini for February. It has a cute Fox couple that I expanded out of Cynthia Staub's pattern, "Garden Visitor," which I had purchased from her Craftsy shop - Quilt Doodle Designs. 

I drew out a pattern for each one on newsprint paper, and then I used fusible applique techniques. (Tracing my pencil lines with a Sharpie yielded enough bleed-through so that I had a reverso on the back to trace the fusible stuff from.)

The applique was all stitched down simultaneously with the quilting. There's no binding, because I sewed the quilt together initially and turned it inside-out. I'll have to work up a tutorial for that when I do the next one. The stems on the bleeding heart held by the fox for his lady were simply sewn back-and-forth per segment in free-motion mode. The eye beads were actually the second set I'd fished out of my general glass bead container. Got thirsty with the first set in hand, and accidentally popped them down like Tylenol when I also picked up a glass of water!  Heh!

I have 10 more minis worth of fun coming up with this set! Having matching quilts hanging in our homes is a spot of balm on a mom's heart that misses those two young people terribly.  :)