Quilt Class begins

I enrolled in a class to make a quilt - a Christmas quilt - I have told my self - again and again - NO MORE CHRISTMAS QUILTS - 

but I got sucked in with this picture:

(Can't resist houses   -   or trees - and there are a few of them too)

To justify this - I will be learning all sorts of features on my new monster machine...although I had an embroidery machine before I had not had any lessons, just picked things up as I went - or asked those in the know.
We will be doing a lot of applique blocks and "In the Hoop" blocks.

Here is what I achieved in Lesson 1 

This is "applique in the hoop" - the machine stitches an outline of the number 2, then you place a piece of fabric over the shape - another outline stitch is done - then you remove the whole thing from the machine and trim away the excess fabric - that is quite tricky around those curves - then you put it back in the machine and it does the satin stitch...not a process to be rushed...and "apparently" I should have had some tear away underneath it as well...next time!

We also had a 9 patch block to make but I can do them separately.....so, although we didn't achieve a lot of finished blocks - I did learn quite a few things and there was a bit of information that had to be shared before we started..
Here is an idea of what it might look like when I've finished.  We are using a few different fabrics, but mainly the same.



AND I was given homework for next month - some candy canes and leaves & berries and peppermint twists ..etc!!!
But fortunately this has been a long weekend so by Sunday night I have manged all but one of the homework blocks.  That green background is so much darker than the picture.

Next month we do "in the Hoop" flying geese....but I might sneak in a practice house sometime.