In With the Old

January is suppose to be out with the old and in with the new....right?  I am so tempted by "new" projects being shown on IG and blogs, but I am determined to finish some of my older UFOs.  I have told myself that I can start something new AFTER I finish two old ones.  I don't even want to count how many UFOs are hiding here.

That being said, I did participate in the yearly Mystery Quilt at Quiltville.com.  I changed mine up color wise.

Once I finished it, I decided to make it a bit bigger by adding a paper pieced strip border to it.  What's fifty two more paper pieced strip blocks anyway?  It now measures 84" square which will make a nice sized quilt.

I can honestly say that not one new fabric was purchased for this quilt.  YEAH.  I just don't understand why the stash does not appear to have gone down any.  

Now for the "old" project.  I have had a stack of Scrappy Mountain blocks sitting on my ironing area F-O-R-E-V-E-R!  I refused to remove them for fear they would end up in the dark spot.  I played around with a few layouts and decided on the second, but the first one intrigued me too.

Several years ago Lori Holt had a Bloom Sewalong.  I had all of my templates and a stash of old and new retro fabrics, but never managed to get my blocks sewn.  This year Cheryll is using the same pattern for another SAL.  I dug out my fabrics and templates and then  managed to get the first block sewn.

On the gardening side of life, January means rose pruning here.  Although it cuts into sewing time, it is a great feeling to get them finished.  It won't be long before they are blooming again.   Inside, the amaryllis sent up a second bloom of four more flowers.

To close I will leave a picture of what happens around here when one leaves a quilt on the floor while auditioning borders.  I think I need a design wall!