Another thing that I "guess" I've started and will work more on...

When I was sewing together the back for the Bento Box quilt, at first I thought I was going to be a couple inches shy, so I started piecing a long strip 3 1/2" wide out of the scraps of the fabric from the front (plus a few other scraps because I realized I didn't have enough of those that were very big).

Then I realized that since it's a 4" clearance needed on each side, adding to the width by going to a lot of trouble would do nothing for me because it would just be cut off at the end. And I remeasured and it will be at most 1/2" total shy - and I think Mary can probably work around that (or it may come out in stretching; I was measuring with the fabric pretty slack).

So I have a long, long strip pieced that is 3 1/2" wide. So I guess I'll dig through my scrap bag some more - and start saving the "bits" from the edges of the pieces I cut now - and start piecing some kind of silly bright strip-and-string quilt. (The strip currently has pieces from the Bento Box top, and also pieces left from the very bright, mostly Denyse Schmidt fabrics Tumbler quilt I made a year or so ago).

I also realize now that if I run across any, "meh, this doesn't go with anything" oddball fat quarters in my stash, I might be able to cut them up and incorporate them in this. Or get rid of the amounts I've been hanging on to that are really too small for anything BUT a scrap quilt (Aha. I have some 9" or so wide pieces left of some Kaffe Fasset fabrics that should work here. I wondered what I was going to do with those).

I also finished the 3-6-9 blocks last night, but didn't have the energy to think about laying them out and setting them together.

I'm also itching to start the Sock Monkey quilt. I've decided to "let" myself buy special fabric for backings as I finish quilts (I've been trying to work down the stash some by digging out at least the pre-grouped fabrics and sewing them together). But since I rarely buy backing before making a quilt (after a sad experience on one of my early quilts, where I found I lacked 1/4 yard of what I needed), I don't have backings for the monkeys or the Paris Cats (and ooh, they're coming out with a line of London Cats which I think I may have to get).

The nice thing is, the NICE LITTLE QUILT SHOP IN MY TOWN (and yes, I still feel I have to shout that) carries the sock-monkey fabric line. So once I finish the top, I can run over there and pick out the 4 yards or whatever it is I will need from the sock monkey fabrics they have.