Are We There Yet?

I frequently get about 75% of the way through a project when I just run out of steam.  As usual, I hit a wall with this project over the last month.  It took me a long time to piece the one-more-block I needed to go on, and then the embroidery lagged until I got sidelined with a cold, and with some unexpected free time, I finished the embellishment. 

I started to wonder if I could get away with making this a 9 vs 12 block piece.  I already had misgivings over my original plan to put an image of St. Francis in the middle of the blocks.  I also liked the size of nine 8-inch blocks, and began to see that three more blocks weren't going to add any significant elements to the piece.  

I then recalled that I have a St. Francis medal (alongside one of St. Claire) in one block, and I moved that one to the center.

 
I found some possible sashing fabric: a brown paisley, some shiny fabric for a thin inner border, and an outer border candidate in gold and tan.

I'm pretty much resolved to spend the rest of this year sashing and piecing these nine blocks.  It will probably require some embroidery on the sashing and the blocks may need some tweaking: for example that large sunflower patch in this month's block needs to be reduced or toned down.  

Now that I have a new plan the "are we there yet?" feeling is somewhat at bay.  We'll see what construction challenges lie ahead as I tackle the rest of this project.

August CQJP Block

One more block in this project is done, four to go.  This one felt like it didn't require as much stitching as the others, probably because of the machine embroidered patch.

Here's a close view of the top portion of the block,

...and here's my Sheaf Stitch, this week's TAST, in blue pearl cotton, at the bottom.

 
I added some French knots to the patch with the seagull to infuse a bit more blue into this corner.

Louie doesn't quite fit into the sewing room cat bed, but like Cinderella's stepsisters faced with the glass slipper, he tries.

I had a poem in the August issue of the on-line journal The Accentos Review.  And this is a three-day weekend.  Life is good.