Sajou, and a new pinkeep

I don't do many SALs anymore, but when Lori (humblequilts blog) starts one of her little doll quilt SALs, I have a hard time resisting. Well, actually, I don't even try to resist. But my downfall with SALs is that if I fall behind I tend to drop out. So when I learned that Lori was starting her SAL just before we cross the country for Massachusetts, I knew I had to scramble to get this stage completed before we left.
So here you have my version of step one of Sanjou.

I didn't set out to make a patriotic quilt, but the French General print I envisioned for the center had too large a design. As I kept digging through the stash to find something else, this print (which I think I got from Barb) was the first design that worked, so I ran with it. I kind of went overboard on the fussy-cutting.
In fact, Lori said we should find something like a striped print for a future step, but I think I may have already over-striped mine. We'll see what happens when that part comes.

This is the only other sewing since my last post.

This pinkeep kit was the little surprise that came when you preordered Pam Buda's new book. I just tweaked it a little.

You can see the pattern in the photo below. I fussy-cut some stars from a Barbara Brackman fabric that was in the pile of patriotic fabrics I was sorting through to make Sanjou.

At first I was just going to put one in the center, but then the corners starting begging for one, and I couldn't resist.
Love this new book. I am pretty strict with myself about purchasing new books, but I couldn't resist this one. It has a dozen sweet little projects, and each one is named for a classic work of literature.
I will be absent for a while, but will check back in when we return to our little mountain valley.
Until next time, 
Janet O.

I'll leave you with some shots from around the farm. You can click to enlarge.

  

I've had fun observing these three Sandhill Sandhill Cranes that have been hanging around.