As Promised...

...preliminary pics of the Modern Spirit in Squares quilt.

I think I'll call mine Spring Spirit. Just in case I haven't said it enough, I can't wait for spring!

I did have a design decision to make after laying the squares out. (This isn't all of them. I still need to piece about 8 blocks.)

The pattern calls for 12 prints, with three 7.5" squares and three 4.5" squares cut from each for a total of 36 plain blocks and 36 pieced blocks. I had more than 12 fabrics! (Way more!) If you look closely you can see 13 different prints. Now I could have kept all 13 and just had three of 10 of them, and two each of the remaining 3 prints; OR I could edit out one print. I decided to edit. It came down to these three prints which are all pretty similar in value:

Obviously, the leaf print wasn't going anywhere! That left a decision between the two pink dot prints. I decided to edit out the one on the bottom. Even though I really like it and it certainly goes with all the others, it just didn't have the contrast within the print itself that the white dot does. So it's out. But never fear, I have enough fabric to make lots more blocks, so the poor pink print could end up being used on the back of this quilt, or it might even show up in the next pink quilt. And there will be another one!

In other sewing news, construction has begun on S2694. I threaded the serger with matching pink thread this morning, stay-stitched the neckline, and made the darts in the front and back bodice pieces. Not a lot of work, I know, but getting the darts in is always a huge step for me. It's kind of a speed bump I have to get over before turning on the cruise control and really getting a project underway. The vertical darts on the front still need some tweaking- I'm getting a slight "bullet bra" look. It's probably because my darts are so wide that it's hard to end them off smoothly. I've compensated by curving the dart slightly, but it still needs some fine-tuning. I'll post some pics of the darts and the front pattern pieces later, just in case anyone out there is interested in how I handled the FBA. For now, I'm off to play around with my quilt blocks!