Applique finished

I have finally finished the applique on this piece.  Now, all I have to do is quilt it and bind it and I have a small quilt that depicts my interpretation of the book.  I love the idea of the mythical Phoenix rising from the ashes, good growing out of bad.  That is what I wanted to show with this quilt.  The death of one person leads to a new direction for two people.  I like that idea very much.
I hope the rest of you are enjoying working on your quilts.

Progress

I have been making slow progress on my quilt.  I made the stems out of a red, green, and white paisley.  I wanted the stems to be like a transition from the red "blood" stain to the cream of the new wall paint.  I have started putting the flowers on, but I am just learning how to applique and they are going very slowly.  I added the border to tie in the leaves.  So far, I am pretty happy with where it is going.

How are the rest of you doing?

Starting my quilt

I spent some time today working on my quilt for the book.  I was struck by how the death of one person helped free Nell from her old life to begin anew.  I was also struck by Eleanor's attachment to the quilts of her former teacher and mentor.  I built some fabric for the background of my quilt.  The red represents the death.  I wanted it to look like a stain on a quilt like the one in the book.  Out of this stain will grow beautiful flowers to represent the new life Nell and Eleanor are headed toward.  I know the flowers will be applique but I am still deciding on applique or embroidery for the stems.  The background piece is 15" x 15".  I will probably put a border around it before I quilt it.  I will post my progress as it happens.