On a roll with block sets

We finally had a hard freeze on Sunday night, and Monday morning the multitude of ash trees in our yard decided "today is the day" to drop leaves.  It was literally raining leaves in the morning.  Once those ash trees begin to lose their leaves it happens fast. The maples have barely begun to show any color at all yet, and those ash will be nearly bare by tomorrow.

Today my living room floor has . . . lots of Friendship Square blocks.  On Saturday morning I made 4 additional blocks to finish the layout using 30 blocks total.  I've had people ask about the block pattern so here is the link.  It was from Pat Sloan's Winter Fun sew-along in 2019, and I just love how that center could showcase a fun fabric.  

https://www.ilovetomakequilts.com/2019/10/freeblock-1-of-winter-fun-sew-along.html

But then I had this thought - why rush to put this top together when another idea came about? I'm going to divide these blocks into BOY and GIRL sets since they are turning into an I-Spy type of project.  So instead of 1 big quilt, I'll make 2 smaller ones, which should work out well for donation quilts.  More blocks will be needed, but that's OK because there are a LOT more squares in that project box to use up.  So this block set will continue to grow.  

I do have a completed kid size quilt top using the second version of my Saturday Sampler blocks.  This one has a black background with swirls of bright colors.  I chose bright colors to go with that background, and then framed each 12.5" block with more bright colors.  The frames were from a jelly roll that was in the stash.  

And the last block in the batik version Saturday Sampler is also sewn.  This one has a very patriotic vibe, and I might remake it using different colors.  There is plenty of background fabric to remake it.  And this one could become a pillow or be used in a Quilt of Valor eventually.  I'm just not satisfied that it fits well with the other blocks in the set.

One more block set has been on my radar this past week or so - Windmill.  There are 32 of them so far, so I tried laying 30 of them out.  These are 7" finished, so I think one more row and one more column would make a better size.  So both the Friendship Squares and Windmill blocks will continue to happen for awhile yet.  

Finishing a couple of quilt tops, finishing some binding, and now putting those block sets aside (to grow) means I probably should focus on another UFO project.  There are still 2 that I really want to finish by the end of the year - one big and one not so big.  The number drawn for October for the APQ UFO challenge was #5 and that means I should stop stalling on my #5.  That would be Humble Homes, which is all applique - hence my procrastination.

When I bought the kit for this quilt I saw the trees were all laser cut - cool.  But they were cut with NO fusible web on them or even stabilizer.  So they are floppy and fragile.  The houses just had the fabric and the pattern, so I added my own fusible before cutting them.  

I'm not completely sure that mine will end up looking anything like the picture, but this is the ultimate direction it's going.  I love this idea - but have been dreading all that applique.  Wish me luck on this one.