Vacation Stitching

After admitting in the last post about not stitching on our trip, I made myself at least pull out the project tub to interest me. Of course, I took multiple little hand projects, just in case, and to suit whatever mood I happened to be in. 

Do you operate in moods? I might be in the mood for applique, or I might be in the mood to stitch EPP, or I might be in the mood to glue EPP, and so on. Those were the main three tasks I had in my travel-friendly project tub. Here's a look inside.

As it turns out, I was in the mood for applique. This may have been due to a gentle suggestion offered by Gretchen of Gretchen's Little Corner. Awhile back she encouraged me to take along Lake Effect and stitch on it in whatever moments, be they brief or extended, available. 

And so I did. Thank you, Gretchen, for that suggestion. It was just the gentle push I needed to get me going.

I took one panel with me. It needed only the berries to be completed. Getting closer to being done!!!

Here are some berries stitched down, and a couple on the right just basted down.

The back-basting is done with darker thread so that it is easy to see. I can easily begin the applique at this point.

Some more back-basted berries.

And one more. You may notice that none of my berries are perfectly round. This does not bother me at all. Some applique patterns sort of require that kind of precision and care. This pattern is quite forgiving in its 'freeform' nature. 

Plus, you know, done is better than perfect. A great concept to keep in mind as I continue this trek with Lake Effect.

I am linking up with the weekly Slow Sunday Stitching gals at Kathy's Quilts. It's how I "met" Gretchen, and you might meet some lovely new friends, too! (*Waving to you, Gretchen!!*) Click on Gretchen's link and you will see a quilt of hers that was raffled ---- for $3000!! Way to go! That is so awesome!

Happy Quilting, Friends!