Whoopin' It Up at a Mexican Fiesta Block Party & a NETY prep

Whoop! Whoop!

I can't tell you how thrilled I am that this applique block is finally finished!! 

I absolutely love the vibrant colors and complex quilting on Kay Buckley's Fiesta Mexico, and wanted very much to work on it as a very long-term hand applique project. So I scooped it up when it made its appearance on a Block of the Month program. 

This was in April 2014. I started this block that month, placing it in my tote for evening hand work when I watch a show with Scott after dinner. It progressed super slowly since it got bumped any time a quilt needed tail-tucking or hand stitching on bindings, labels, or hanging sleeves. 

When I came back to quilting in February (post-wedding months and Lupus attack), I changed my modus operandi a little bit. I no long make evening work get bumped by quilt-finishing unless I'm super driven on a particular finish. Now I just stick with the relaxing slow-stitching of hand applique, and just about three months later, this behemoth is all stitched up! 

It is 11 x 48 inches (finished), with tons of flowers and leaves and berries. I work in the back-basting needle-turn style, which is awesome for this project. For the berries, I use those Perfect Circle templates (*love* those).

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Also, I got another of my old NETYs washed, ironed, and kitted up. [Those are my Never-Even-Touched-Yet kits and sets that are in deep storage. The number of these is mind-boggling, and I aim to get one of them kitted each month so they eventually will get cleared out.]  

Santorini collection by Lila Tueller

This would have been purchased in February 2012. I remember that I walked past the quilt done up from this pattern kit, and really liked the fabrics, including the brown that was paired with the fat quarter pack. I'd taped a note on the bag, though, that I wanted to do it up in a different pattern. 

Still feeling that way about the pattern for these fabrics, I decided I really wanted to make a brick wall quilt with the prints, but then the brown from the kit just didn't float my boat anymore. 

Pulled a few pieces from my stash, and settled on the gray batik that's under the bricks I cut. (They were also really pretty with a white "mortar," but that didn't go with my theme vision.) That's now cut as well, and everything's tucked neatly in this super cool shoebox, waiting for an open Friday Play Day to whip that top together. And the brown can join my stash for another day.

Eventually, I'll use left-overs from the FQs and some water fabric from my stash to make a bricked well on a green floral background for the back. I intend to call the quilt "Secret Garden" when it grows up one day.

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Linking up at 
Jennifer's Wed Wait Loss WIPs
Sarah's Whoop Whoop Fridays