Turkey Day Break

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving break - five whole days without work - wonderful!  I was able to spend quite a bit of time in the sewing room and made a little progress on a couple of projects.  I finished my first LeMoyne Star block early last week and am getting close to finishing the second one.  These blocks were a bit obnoxious - trying to organize 16 points in the center is not my idea of fun. I am very happy with how it is turning out, however. I love my colors!

I made some progress on Dear Jane over the past couple of weeks, too.  I prepped several blocks while I was on vacation - I will be traveling a lot over the next three weeks so I figure I can polish off a few during flights.

They look a little wonky in the above photo since I haven't trimmed the over-sized ones down yet.  I need to re-make the little LeMoyne Star.  I tried to do it by machine and I am not happy with how the center turned out.  I tried to let it go - to live by the Brenda Papadakis Dear Jane motto "finished is better than perfect" - but I'm pretty sure I will obsess over it until it looks better.  That may be a project for next weekend.

Another project I made progress on over the break was my Antique Rose.  I finished my second block.  I'm toying with the idea that I might actually be able to finish this one in time for the quilt show if I put my mind to it.  I need seven more blocks.  It's not THAT much work if I focus, right?

As usual, any time I have more than a few hours of spare time I come up with new projects to start.  I received my pattern for The Caswell Quilt in the mail and it is even more beautiful "in person" than it looked on the website. I couldn't wait to get started! It doesn't look like much now...not at all like it took several hours to do.  The only down side to this pattern is that the block placement diagrams are photos of the actual blocks.  I tried a light box for placement but that wasn't great, so I opted instead for making an overlay, but I find that an overlay doesn't really work for me when it comes to stem placement and embroidery lines.  I think I will need to wing it a little with this pattern.  I'll have to keep in mind that no one will be holding up the overlay to see where I've strayed once it's finished...

And last, but not least, the mystery quilt.  I've followed Bonnie Hunter for years and have always wanted to do one of her mysteries. I decided that this would be my year. I am not too sure of my overall fabric choices just yet - my daughter was helping me pull from my stash over the weekend and I'm not too sure I'm happy with where we landed (burgundy, hunter green and navy...flashback to the 90s!), but I am happy with the two fabrics I selected for step one.  The light fabric is a background I bought four yards of over the summer.  It's too busy for applique, so it's just right for something like this. The other fabric is one I had a couple of yards of (not sure why...it probably had a purpose at one time). 















I'm not finished with the first step, but I made a good start.  I know I'm going to fall behind quickly with all of my upcoming travel, but I just couldn't resist.  I'm certainly never at a loss for something to work on!