Happy Independence Day

I hope you have a wonderful day!

(This photo makes me want to make a log cabin quilt.)

Quilting bee (and ants)

I did a little bit of bee (or is that ant?) sewing yesterday.

Amy's quilt for the SewConnected 3 bee is a picnic quilt and she sent the cutest ant and picnic blanket fabrics, with some solid-ish ones thrown in. She mentioned that she liked applique, so I figured I'd throw some in there.

Hope you like it Amy!

Applique detail (I really did not want this to come off in the wash...):

(If you'd like to see the cute blocks others have made, do visit the Flickr group.)

To the exclusion

...of everything else, this is what I did yesterday. No cleaning, no cooking, no mowing the lawn, no taking the dog's "you-know-what" to be tested before we leave on vacation, no grocery shopping.
Just this.

The photo sucks. It's kind of dark out there and this thing is HUGE. 7ft x 7ft. I had to get the hubby's photography ladder just to fit it into the shot.
I'll be quilting it in the fall when it cools down a bit. It will be only 69 degrees today though...
But, no - the dog poop awaits.

Four hours later...

Thanks for all the truthful comments on "the block". I feel much better about this one. Phew!

Funny thing is, I designed that original block on EQ5 and was very impressed with myself. I liked it so much I designed a whole quilt around it.
And then I made the block...

(The little dot on the block is just dew from the wet grass.)

Oh, the doubt

I must be very insecure although you'd never be able to tell if you spoke to me.
This is the block I made for Amanda in the Virtual Quilting bee.

You can see the quilts she wanted us to use for inspiration over here.
I'm not fishing for compliments here. Please give me your honest opinion. Something about this block bothers me. See if you can tell what it is. I think I'm going to rip it up right now.

Ho, ho, ho

What does Santa Claus say to Mrs. Claus when he looks out the window? Looks like "rain deer".

That's true around here this morning and all the premature Christmas jolliness in the stores may be getting to me...

Christmas project no.1: