Mandarin Duck and Other Projects

This is the Mandarin Duck, my project from a class with Jenny Bowker at Road to CA last year. It came home with most of the pieces temporarily fused onto a muslin backing..I hadn't added the eye..and there were a few places that had 'holes' where the alignment was a bit off...I  fixed those and then sat down to stitch the edges with MonoPoly...started out with my normal foot and quickly realized that I needed to switch to the Big Foot and do this more like FMQ...

As I was scooting around in my crowded work room after I trimmed up the Duck, I knocked a piece of fabric off a stack..when I picked it up off the floor, it begged to be used in the Mandarin Duck...I originally was going to add a flying geese border, but I love how this piece looks against the rich dark brown...

Then, I played with adding a bit of the rust from the Duck's sail...and that just made it sparkle!

So..the borders are on, I stitched three wool batting pieces (still left from the days when Hobbs was a vendor at Road and sold the squares for 50 cents), created a backing - just plain white muslin...and batted the piece - when it rains, we eat lunch in the cafeteria, and I get some quilting time in..and its predicted to rain all week!

Finished off the rest of the stitching on my Beast from the Beasts of the Jungle class from a couple of years ago - Kissy has been waiting patiently by my sewing machine..and so she is done..

And...since I am taking a hexie class at Road this year, I made a portable design wall / block carrier out of a pool noodle, the cardboard tube from a dry cleaning hanger for pants, a piece of fleece and a hair tie...this will help me carry my design home from the class since there is no way on earth will I get 50 hexies prepared AND stitched in 6 hours..I am fast..but not THAT fast!

I have to cut 70 squares of a single color family for these hexies - I picked green (no shock there, eh?) and so far have unearthed at least 90 different greens!! On to the cutting...I hope I end up with 70 that I can use!  I know some have to be tossed - the plaids, strange fabrics, flannel - but I pulled them anyway..just in case...