Finished Cardinal Pillow

Wow!  Thanks for the input.  I loved hearing your thoughts.  And without them, I never would have gone in the direction I did.  This is what I ended up with:

I continued the branch down and toward the right so I could use white on the three sides of the left half (or third?).  It's not perfect but I think it still works.   Hope Mom likes it!

Linked up to Crazy Mom Quilts' Finish It Up Friday.

Cardinal Quilt Block on White or Wood?

Mom: Stop reading. 

So my mom emailed me a picture of a cardinal pillow she found online and asked me if I had any red fabric that color.  I took that as a sweet hint that she might like something handmade for Christmas...

Since I'm on a little quilting kick of late, I decided to try paper piecing.  Now that the block is done, I'm thinking it might make a better table runner than pillow.  And I figured I would put it in an all white runner and maybe a brown binding.  But I love love love the wood fabric (from hawthorne threads).  It's pretty cool, no? Is it too much if I put the block in the wood fabric?  

What do you think?  White on white with wood binding?  or wood all around?  maybe red binding? 

Oh, heck, I'll probably just bring it all undone to her house and ask her what she wants...but I'd love to hear your opinions. 

A Gift for my Latin Student

Belle has been taking Latin at our Co-op the last couple of semesters.  Her teacher has gone above and beyond what Co-op teachers are expected to do, and is just really excited about the language.  So when I saw Dr. Seuss is Latin I had to order one for her.

And while I was on Amazon, I ordered How the Grinch Stole Christmas in Latin for Belle.   Okay, that sounds like I'm raising a nerd.  Maybe, but she's a pretty cool nerd.