Animal Takeover

 Animals have taken over my sewing room.

Yes, it's another Elizabeth Hartman pattern, Foxes in Flannels.  I have spent nearly 3 weeks working on the fox faces.  Finally, all 24 are finished.  There are 36 pieces in each face for those who are counting along.  That was all the cutting I had done for this quilt, but I was so thrilled to have the faces done that I got out the project box and cut the needed green backgrounds for the bodies (and I realized that I had already cut the paws and chins).  So then I started digging through the scraps to find shirt, undershirt, and jeans fabrics.  I cut for one fox and went right to the machine.  

Here he is!  Can I just say that the cutting takes 3 times the time that the sewing does.  Part of the issue is cutting the plaids to match.  Honestly, I probably wouldn't bother, but after reading the pattern and there being a whole page devoted to cutting so that the plaids would sorta match, I figured I better do it that way.

And for those who are still interested, there are 37 pieces in each body.  So I'll let you do the math, (36+37)x24 foxes...............???

A few more animals showed up to play in the sewing room.

One of them is rather shy (another fox!)

These are the first 2 blocks for another Elizabeth Hartman pattern called Show and Tell.  There is also a bear and I think there are only 9 of these, 3 of each animal, each with a different quilt.  I already had the little quilts done.  The one the fox is holding is actually a block from the block lotto blocks I won at quilt guild back in November.  It somehow came out a little smaller than all the others, so I just slapped a border on it and gave it to the shy fox for Show and Tell.  

The one the bunny is holding is made from scraps from 2 larger quilts I have been working on.  It's a little busy for my taste, but then, bunnies are busy little creatures, are they not?

Here's the first quilt that caused those scraps.  

I love this quilt.  I love the colors.  It comes from a line of fabric called Maple and the pattern is Proposal from the book O Happy Day.  I really love the pattern.  And I love the quilting pattern.  This was a new design that showed up on my tablet after I did the free upgrade to my quilting program in December.  I'll definitely use it again.

And of course, I put a couple of tags on the back!

And for the last animal reference, (I know, you've been expecting photos of LIVE animals!) I played "chicken" with a bolt of fabric.

That little sliver is all I had left after I cut what I needed for the back of the Waverly quilt I want to quilt next.  This might be taking "Waste Not, Want Not" a little too far.

I know, 2 blog posts relatively close together.  Don't get excited.  It will be a few days before there's another.  I have some major house cleaning to do and will be out and about on Tuesday and Wednesday, so there won't be much to show and tell about.

I hate to say it, but a few good snow days would make the world slow down and give more sewing time.  Just let me hit the grocery store first!

Christi