Fiesta de Talavera - Block 2

I've finished block 2! This is such a fun project to hand applique. There are a lot of pieces in each block (this one has 125) and they take a little time, but the majority of them have easy, gentle curves making them perfect for time in front of the TV. I really like working with these bright colors against the dark background. It's so much fun to see the block coming together as I'm working on it.

Fiesta de Talavera - Block 1

This is Fiesta de Talavera, an applique quilt pattern by J. Michelle Watts. I fell in love with it the second I saw it. It's being offered as a Block of the Month class at Southwest Decoratives in Albuquerque, NM and my friend Liz is teaching it. My friend Olive is taking the class. I wanted to take it too, but it's kind of a long commute from Virginia. So, I decided that I'd follow along as best I can. In class, Liz will be exploring different methods of applique, but I'm just going to stick with my favorite method - back basting. I like to get stitching as quick as possible and don't really like making templates or overlays. Yeah, I'm lazy. Here's my first block: