SQUIRRELS!!!

S'mores retreat is next week and I've been trying to settle on which projects I SHOULD be taking.  I usually hold borders till retreat time as there is plenty of table space where we get together.  I have two border projects lined up, not that I'm enthusiastic about either one.  

A primary goal will be assembling Masala Box (which I am calling Mess-ala Boxes)

This is just a tentative layout.  I have made gray and dark green blocks since this photo and I will try to figure out how to balance the darker colors with the lighter ones.

I was looking for an empty project box (or one I could usurp) for Mess-ala when I opened Pandora's Box (a/k/a Blue and Brown).

This is a medallion-style "Frankenquilt" I started in the summer of 2020, made from leftover pieces and parts from my reproduction fabric days.  It screams "Finish me!", but not at this retreat; it needs more thought.

BUT in that same box was a baggie of finished blocks (and parts for 13 more) left over from a quilt I gave away made from my own design I call Irish Grandmother (combo of Irish Chain and Grandmother's Choice).

I don't think I have enough of the background fabric to make more shoofly blocks ...

... but what if I alternated with a solid block of this fabric?

We'll see how that develops.  Anyway, at a minimum I will finish those thirteen blocks at retreat.  In the meantime, I decided to move this other UFO off the shelf to free up another project box.

Several years ago I taught a class on 4-patch posey.  I used this gorgeous paisley (from JoAnn's, of all places) to demo both the square and quarter-square (shown here) options.  I have enough blocks for two small throws.  This pattern is English Tiles by Kaye England.  It is designed to be set strippy style, but the border print I had set aside for this one didn't work color-wise.  And just putting the blocks together would not be big enough to be useful.  So what if I used a large square between the blocks?

Boring and somewhat overpowering at the same time.  The space needed to be broken up.

I liked the idea of the 4-patch squares mimicking the corners of the blocks, but just a little heavy.  What about double 4Ps?

I THINK that's what I'm going to go with (though I just had another thought ...).  Anyway, the project has been added to my packing pile.  But I still need a REAL project ... more on that later, perhaps.