Design Wall Monday::Little Things

It's been a while, I know.  Things have been very, very busy at work and my stress level has been through the roof.  Most of the time sewing or knitting helps me maintain an even keel, but after a certain point I can't even handle those.  Thankfully, things are finally calming down a bit and I can turn my attention back to something fun.

The blocks above are some that I won in a guild BOM back in 2008.  Yes, two years ago!  I won eight blocks (our guild was still pretty small then), and I had always intended to make a few more to eke out a baby quilt.  I even bought some pastel floral fabric to use as a border and/or possible sashing.  All of this has been biding its time in a bundle on a shelf in my sewing room.

I took the parts and pieces to the mini-retreat two weeks ago, and got started on four more blocks.  Here are three more baskets with the handles yet to be tacked down.

There is one more that I finished just to check the cutting and sewing directions.  It has been two years, after all.  Pastels are not really my favorites, but of all the BOM's that we've done over the years, I think these little blocks are my favorite and I was very happy I was the winner that month.  Everything is cut out; I just need to find a few minutes to sew all these bits together.

If you would like to see what others are working on this Monday, check out Judy L.'s Patchwork Times blog.

One thing that has carried me through the stress of the past couple of weeks is that I was able to grab a place at a quilting retreat next weekend.  A friend of mine mentioned that she had heard that there were a few openings left and I called the woman who organizes it right away and secured my spot.  Several friends and members of my quilting guild will be there. I am so looking forward to having some quality sewing time.

And I'm looking forward to spending some time this week just trying to decide what projects to work on.    Sometimes that's as much fun as doing the sewing itself!