I am making pretty good progress on the applique, working on two blocks at the same time.   The one on the far right is done, the other two about 1half done.  I have to pin then sew, then pin the next layer, so doing the two together gets me a bit farther before I have to go pin again.  This method wouldn't work in the car very well, but sitting in my sewing room it's just fine.  And talk about a wonderfful evenings, listening to a favorite audio book and hand stitching.  Gosh, I sure wish I could sit and sitch for days, so restful.

I'm still thinking about putting these on point then filling in and around with pieced blocks, probably some pinwheels and 9 patches.  But I want to get these on the wall 1st so I can get a feel for how busy they are and what kind of contrast I need. 

Dee in TX (DBRADFOR3) said:

do you have a planned spot to hang your hickcen quilt?  It would be kind of fun in a kitchen but I don't remember your kitchen having that much blank wall.

At 56x70, that's kinda large for a wall hanging, but you're right in that there is absolutely NO wall space available in my kitchen.   The chicken quilt is kinda/sorta, almost, maybe a twin size.  :-)

Oh, I take that back about wall space.  The one space that could be used for hanging something *has* something: the Roadkill Cafe Menu poster. "You kill it, we grill it"  :-)

Dee in TX (DBRADFOR3) said:

I am making pretty good progress on the applique, working on two blocks at the same time.

oh!  That is really, really lovely!

I kinda like the on-point layout.  With something in between the blocks, you can disguise the problem of matching up all those plaid lines.  Ugh.   Maybe even just a sashing ... there are a number of very interesting pieced sashing ...  a 3 strip sashing along the sides of the block with an "interesting" something at the intersections.

I'm sure you'll come up with a fantastic solution. :-)

Thank you!  I bet yours in Christmas colors was pretty.  I used 8 inch strips. That's what the directions I read called for.

Cool and damp here too!

I'm now doing miles of SITD.  I'm pretty doggone pleased with my efforts so far.  It's  not 100% perfect  but from 5 miles away on a clothesline  in a stiff breeze and from the back of a galloping horse, it'll look just fine.

I can’t imagine doing that - I presume on your Longarm....

I do it on my regular machine.  

Yup, that's on the longarm.  This is a queen sized quilt. I'm  NOT doing that size on my home machine again!

Although, SITD is certainly easier on a home machine than a longarm,  for sure!

I’ve just never tried SID on a Longarm, and just image how hard that must be.....

I go very slowly.  I also have a tool that acts as a "handle" for the needle, to allow micro-management.  You can also just put your fingers right on the shaft that holds the needle for similar control.

The first time I tried SITD on the longarm, I was operating just like I was doing regular quilting and the control simply *wasn't there*.  The SITD .... wasn't.  Not even close.  So, I strongly advise having some sort of tool to provide that control or putting your fingers close to the needle and moving the machine head that way.

1st round to my "round robin".  I started out with a bit of grayish green in the string blocks but it looks too much like Christmas so I took it out.  I think I want to add just a few strings of the whitish gray to lighten up, some of them are just a little muddy.  But I'm close.  Planning on doing a row of either 4 patches or hourglasses next.  I still have a few nights of applique left to finish the one on the left, a few flower leaves and centers in light beige then the center wheel.  It was fun to be on the machine doing something besides t-shirt quilts.  I really do enjoy machine piecing.