Archduchess Annabel the Alligator, adorned in an adorable apron, ably amassed an abundance of apples.



I just couldn't resist the theme "Alphabet Mania" for the STUD swap this month. Even though I knew it would be a bit of a squeeze getting it all done this month.

After receiving my wonderful DQS6 quilt from Monika I had to try raw edge applique and this was the perfect quilt to try it on. It was actually surprisingly easy. I was too chicken to try it free motion and instead used my see through sewing foot and kept the feed dogs up. I just went really slowly and hoped for the best. I don't think it came out too badly and at least Mari from Midland Design seems to like it!



I am also getting into triangles at the moment. Just love them. Flying geese, half square triangles, pieced triangles. All of them. So I plunged in with the border. There are probably a million ways of doing this more easily and I certainly found out that my choice of method was not very good. Still it's a learning curve right. Now I just need to do some research on triangles. Anyone know any good links?

Whoops I didn't really mean to take such a long break! We had a terrific time in the UK but now we are back it is taking me forever to get back into the swing of things! I had a gazillion packages of fabric waiting for me on my return. All needing to be made into blocks for the various bees I am signed up for. Plus I also decided it would be a good idea to make two minis for the Swap till you Drop group. The themes of twisted traditional and alphabet mania seemed too good to miss.

So hopefully there is still somebody out there checking my blog! I will really try to get back into the swing of things a bit better now. Although first I have to wade through all the blog feeds in bloglines. Wow you lot have been busy!

So here is a quick round up of the blocks I have been making this month.

First up blocks for the Cottage Quilting Bee.



Ashley asked for a scrappy block to be made from the bunch of scraps she sent us.



Carolyn asked for some trees to go in her neighbourhood of houses. I was a first a bit upset I didn't get a house but given the fact I was struggling to get everything finished this month it was probably just as well.

Next were the blocks for Bee Inspired.



Nettie sent the most wonderful set of cute fabrics to make a flying geese block with. I was sorely tempted to say that these were lost in the post.



I wanted to make the most of the fabrics so I tried to squeeze as many fish into one of the triangles and to get the alien family scene into another. This meant lots of little seams.

Deanna from Bee Inspired sent pink, cream and brown solid fabrics and a pink print. She is making a star quilt for her daughter and the theme is strawberry and chocolate milk! This block did make me sweat a bit as I had very little cream. I used every tiny bit of it! To make the centre pop I added some ric rac as well.



Chen from Another Quilting Bee 1 sent lots of mendocino fabrics. I could have gone on forever with these. I love the colour combination and again couldn't resist the ric rac!



Hope you are all doing well. I hope now that I am a bit more caught up that I will get a chance to read all about what you have been up to!