Actually, my whole life is a work in progress, but here are some quilty things that are getting my attention lately.  Judy Laquidara’s latest Quilt for an Hour (QFAH) is a star quilt with an interestingly shaded background called Shine on Bayou Cane.  It will really make the stars *pop*.  The idea is that you get her instructions for each day, it should only take about an hour (unless you’re slow like me), and then you post your progress, hopefully each day so you stay caught up!  So for Monday and Tuesday of this week, here are my 120 half-square triangle-blocks, composed of my two background fabrics.  I also included in the photo 32 fat eighths in Civil War reproduction prints that I had squirreled away for a rainy day (and it IS raining today).  If need be, I will break into my fat quarter collection of Civil War fabrics.  And my colors photographed pretty accurately, for a change.

Another fun project is Judy Laquidara’s Star BOM.  We are up to Block #5!  Here is block 5, along with a photo of blocks 1-5.  These will finish at 12″ each, so they are good-sized blocks.  The Star BOM is another example of Judy taking familiar blocks and shaking things up by making the background, the borders, and the settings more interesting.  She also seems to favor nearly solid fabrics.  I’ve always been drawn to prints with maybe a couple of nearly solids, so this has been a new direction for me, and I’m enjoying it!

Here are a couple of table runners that are awaiting binding.  The one on the left is an Anka’s Treasures pinwheel pattern included in the pattern Little Charmers III, designed to use charm packs.  (Eileen, I think you were looking for the name of that pattern?)  And the one on the right is from a Terry Atkinson book, Lessons from Mama.  (Although I’ve never met Terry, I know she’s a local pattern designer.  Her patterns are always easy to follow.)  For a fall theme, I used an Indian corn fabric for the center of the stripe, which you can see better if you click on the photo for an enlarged view (you might even be able to click twice to enlarge it twice).

While I had a neutral backing fabric on the longarm, I floated the two table runners plus this sweet Mary Engelbreit panel.  (Mary also needs a hanging sleeve and binding.)  Panels are such a great “cheat”.  I have a place by the front door for panels of this size, and I would like to be able to change them out at least once a month, so I have a few to go.  It’s fun to look for them for different seasons/holidays/moods.

So that’s it for now! 

Sue