Moving right along

First, I just want to say how excited I am to have finally figured out a way to improve the photo quality on the blog.  It is frustrating to take clear, bright photos and have them appear dull and flat once I upload them to Blogger.  So, Google being my BFF and all....I tracked down a way to do this using Flickr.  I have to use an added step, uploading the pics to my computer first, then to Flicker, then to the blog.  But it is going to be worth every extra calorie I burn to do it.

Here is where I am with "Oh, By Golly!"  I've just had the best time putting this together.  I'm not exactly sure how this one started.  But once it "clicked", I knew exactly how I wanted it to look.

I started out by drawing some Christmassy motifs on a paper and then cutting them out.  I played around with the colors to get the balance I was looking for, trying to alternate light and dark backgrounds.  These were rather primative drawings, just to help with placement and balance.

Then the fun began....actually bringing these guys to life! At first, I was going to fit them nicely on the inner block.  But the more I played around worked at it, the more I could see these happy pictures sort of spilling out over the sashing.  No need to hem them in on this quilt.  I'm going all out!

OK, I love this little mouse.  I got the idea for her from a Christmas story I had as a child.  I decided she needed a Santa hat and she needed to be looking at something.  Why not watch the clock as it strikes midnight on Christmas Eve??

So much fun color in this!  I wanted to have plenty of traditonal red and green, but also introduce the blues and pinks that make my heart happy!

Now I'm working on the border.  I'm stitching the letters by hand, in red and pink, to mirror that inner "bubblegum" border fabric. 

I'll have this done by next week, probably.  Atlantic Beach, NC, is calling my name.  So a few of us are heading that way to visit my mom and dad at their timeshare.  I'll be taking this along to finish. 

If you need me, I'll be in the comfy chair, by the window, overlooking the big, blue ocean!

Love,