Cabins and Peace Angels

I'm finally finishing Cabins ... it seems like I've had this up on my design wall forever waiting for final construction. While I absolutely LOVE it, it is the most poorly constructed piece imaginable. I learned to save space for seams for piecing the blocks! I ended up with unnecessary layers (each block is several layers and they are attached to a backing fabric, which is of course sandwiched with batting and the back fabric) and very raw edges that looked bad, so I used embroidery stitches and yarn to cover most of them. I just have a couple more things to add (a key for one) and it will be completed! Yippee!

I feel the same about Peace Angel ... at one point I was considering entering this into FiberFest (after my visit there yesterday, I'm glad I didn't - it's too traditional and not artsy enough.) I've had a love/hate relationship with this quilt. I love the fabrics -- they are my international fabrics that friends have sent me from around the world. I love the peace symbol in each of the red blocks. I love the text in the center block. I am less enthused with the "angel." I chose that symbol because I feel there are peace angels working in the world -- boy do they have a tough job! But somehow the shape is "lost in translation" and it seems almost too naive. The final touch is to add black yarn around the edge because I'm unhappy with the yellow edge. Anyway, I worked on this for a long time, and I'm finally finishing it. Yippee!

Lots of "lessons learned" with both of these pieces.