Ducking Firsts

I've had a play about with a couple of sewing techniques over this weekend and there's a bit of a duck theme going on...Firstly I made this embroidery and I think we will be keeping it because OH really likes it. It's in one of my decoupaged hoops from yonks ago which I will put on the PennyDog site shortly because they're no good to anyone languishing in a drawer.This is my first attempt at raw edge machine applique and it's based on a sketch I did a few years ago.Next up is this large placemat or mini quilt if you wish. I'd intended it to be a table runner but got my measurements drastically wrong. Still it's my first go at curved piecing and I think it's pretty cute and it used up a few scraps so it cost me nothing in new fabric. I quilted and binded (bound?) it this morning. I went through 3 needles on the machine because the tension of the invisible thread was ridiculous due to it getting caught on a little nick on the edge of the bobbin resulting in my face being pelted with tiny bits of metal three times.Time to make some more falafels and clean out the hedgehog!EDIT- I am entering the mini quilt into the Ellison Lane Modern Mini Quilt challenge. I'm not sure if it counts as being modern enough, but I figured it had curves in so it would count! It's 24.5" across the long edge.