Which mini will win?

I had intended to finish this little quilt for my June mini. As you can see, I did not. 

So will it be July's? Yet to be determined. It is made from a pattern for a flag pin, by Diane Hansen of Flag Farm designs. This is an enlargement of the pattern, and I added  everything from the red border on out. I'd had it all squared up, but the triple sashing border is really crooked and I didn't notice it until I was pinning to quilt it. Just couldn't bring myself to do it--it will have to be unpicked and maybe just leave that border off altogether.

I could just quilt this up--another less-than-satisfactory assembly job.

A few months ago, on a hunt for something else, I came across a little bag that contained a bunch of purple scraps, with a few blacks, some tan, and a tiny bit of cheddar. They were leftovers from another mini a few years ago. I had put them in the bag together thinking one day I would challenge myself to make something just using those scraps. I've finished it, taken it apart, and reassembled it a couple of times. This last time I just decided to border it and call it done. I pulled out a lovely FQ of this black miniature print by Judie Rothermel that was a gift from dear Victoria, once upon a time. I have loved it and saved it for something special. But I thought that maybe putting it on this little piece would make me like the quilt  better. It was too much black, and the cheddar in the center looked really out of place. A dig through a couple of scrap baskets produced enough purple and cheddar to add the pinwheels to the corners. I do believe the black border makes me like it more, and the cheddar in the corners pulls out the center, but I don't know if I am ready to call it done and quilt it any more than I am the one above. You will just have to wait on pins and needles to see which one I actually finish before the month is out--or maybe it will be something entirely different. Can you handle the suspense? :)

Since I seem to be rolling out the old projects lately, here is another one--though not as old as my GFG, by any means. This one has only been around about 5 years. Meet Settler's Puzzle--a Pam Buda design.

I started this in January of 2014, when Pam Buda was our guest teacher at our winter retreat. I had come home with just a couple of blocks made, and every year I seem to eke out a couple more. So now all of the blocks are made. You can see I am auditioning a dark green inner border, and then there will be a sawtooth border, before a final wide border. This is supposed to be a 2 color quilt--and as much as I admire them, I struggle to make them. After too long with only two colors I start to get nervous, and I might even start to twitch--pretty soon I am grabbing other colors and throwing them in the mix. It is a miracle that I have only bumped this one up to 4 colors, after all those years. It feels good to be making progress on it.

Thank you to all who have contributed your thoughts and prayers for my Mom. They found a tumor in a lung when she was scanned for injuries after her fall in May. We are still learning what the future holds for her. One step at a time.

Until next time.
Janet O.