I’m nearing the end of my very long list of UFOs, and I’ve come across a few projects that are very familiar, and a few that I had completely forgotten about.

The most familiar to anyone who’s followed this blog in the past four years would be the Test Your Skills Sampler. If you are new to the blog, check out this sampler (still in progress, but I’m feeling positive about finishing it soon), as well as the Skill Builder Series that prompted it.

I have all but the last four blocks made, and all but the last one written. Once those are done, I have to add the background pieces to size all of the blocks up to 16″ and write the corresponding TYSS posts, then it’s finished. I need to get this done this year.

While the Test Your Skills Sampler is likely to be finished within the foreseeable future, the Dear Jane sampler is another story. I’m making it all in solids, and I plan to call it Plain Jane. While I love it, and would love to finish it, I only have 21 blocks finished – out of 225 (including the ice cream cones and corners). This is not a priority.

And then there’s the project I forgot about. Three or four – or five or six – years ago, I had an adorable bird print fabric, and I loved the look of log cabin blocks with random bits and pieces in the middle of the logs. I made a bunch of blocks in various shapes and sizes with the bird print at the center, but I had no real plan for putting them together. I vaguely remember laying all the blocks out of the floor and adding white to fill in between the blocks.

I really like this.

I’m leaving it on the design wall, because I think this might be my next piecing project. There is now room on the design wall because I took all of the string blocks off – and sewed them together! I have a completed string flimsy. I also finished quilting Serendipity so the longarm is free for Plus Size. I just need to finish the back and I can get that one quilted. And Mom picked out the pitiful quilting on my very first sampler quilt. I’ll straight line quilt it on my regular machine, then that’s done.

Could it be… I think… I’m making progress?