Too Much Time on My Hands

Because of Hurricane Irene, who visited us last Saturday, business has been slow and I have had a LOT of sewing time.  I like to mix it up a bit and I've been working on two projects back and forth, the bird quilt and the stars quilt, plus my Dear Jane blocks.  I added a little more embellishment to the bird quilt last night, more couched yarn and beads:

There is no quilting or stitching of any kind on the bird and I am still figuring that out, plus I want to make some flowers to "scatter on  the ground".

The applique border of the star quilt is coming right along.

I mentioned earlier that I had a couple of ideas that I really wanted to try.  Actually, there are three different ones rattling around in my brain.  I have been very interested in a new book by Virginia Baker and Barbara Sanders called String Quilt Revival.  They have basically updated classic patterns with modern fabrics and colors.  Yesterday I started what I will call my phone book quilt.  I cut 8" squares from phone book pages and marked them for paper piecing.  Four paper squares will go together to make one 15" block.  That is as far as I intended to go for right now.  People who know me know that I LOVE to get things ready ....

Today I opened a drawer that I hadn't looked into for a while and, under my Stooges fabric ....

....... I found some wonderful, large scraps that were mostly color coordinated!  Wow!  Lots of greens, tans and rusts in darks and lights.  So, the phone book quilt will come next.  If I am really, really organized, I can be cutting pieces for a LEGO quilt at the same time.

Here's what I've got rounded up, ready to go.  I found yardage of a really nice green in my stash that will be the star points.  The fabrics lined up on the right were all in that drawer together.  It will be easy to add to them to get a good mix.

So, that's the story of how I went completely off the rails today.