Happy Fall!!!

We are almost a month into fall and for some reason it has been the busiest I've ever known.  My family celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary, and I ended up with a virus that lasted one day short of three weeks.  A sore throat that lasts over two weeks is almost enough to drive a person insane.  The sun is shining again after two days of rain, and I'm feeling like I'm going to live.  I also started working with a personal trainer and running again which I would love to blame for my illness, but they are both very good for me and necessary, so I won't.

I started appliqueing these petals over a month ago.  I love the way applique looks, I love the smooth rounded curves and I spent plenty of time researching how to make them that way.  I used starch, a paint brush, and an iron to get those curves just right.  For the most part it worked.  I'm not sure that applique is my thing though.  I had read somewhere that they should take about 10 minutes a leaf to stitch down.  I'm here today to say it takes a lot longer than that!  All the blocks are squared up and ready to be sewn together...finally!

I used the pattern  Orange Peel  from Moda Bake Shop.  I'm not going to use the same placement as that pattern, but I did use the petals.

I've also been working on this free pattern from Red Brolly.  I am using DMC threads instead of the Cosmo suggested on the pattern.  I will list the colors I am using once I finish this piece (which will hopefully be soon)!  I guess the family is waiting for me to go work out so I'm off.  Happy Stitching!!  --Kristen