Catching Up (Is Hard to Do)

This week has been my spring break and I really needed the time.  I was much more tired than I realized, so I spent the first few days just catching up on sleep.  And that extra sleep really has helped.  I got caught up on some neglected household chores and tamed the laundry mountain.  True, there may be an errant dust bunny here or there, but I've got a few more days to get things more or less under control.

In the meantime, I've been dropping into my sewing room just for brief visits.  The stars in the picture above are a hand sewing project.  I have 14 more or less complete out of a total of 18 planned.  These have been slow going, but now that I'm so close to the end, I'm beginning to feel the love again.  I'm not sure about how to set them in a quilt; that's a decision that I keep putting off.  The good news is that I have somehow managed to acquire quite a bit of the fabric I need to finish the quilt in a couple of different ways.  It's just a matter of making the choice.

While traveling around blogland, I came upon a treasure trove of basket block patterns at Sandi's Piecemeal Quilts.  Just lately basket blocks are especially appealing to me, and it seemed a good use for some nice bright fabrics I found on the remnant table a while back.  These finish at 10 inches and there are nine different patterns on Sandi's blog--just the right number for a spring couch throw. 

I also started working on the Civil War Tribute quilt.  This is the first block I tried.  It will be 18 inches and will have a smaller 12 inch twin.  I didn't like the fabric I chose for the side triangles, so I'm rethinking.  There are lots and lots of bias seams in this block, which called for some very gentle handling.  There was a little bit of stretch, despite my determined starching, but I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

Have a great weekend!