Maintaining sanity

So yeah. All week long I've been frozen up with neck pain, and the only thing that has given me any kind of relief is the relief of distraction. Which is why I've been busily sewing up my doll quilt, extras, pj's for my oldest, and more Summer Sampler blocks. It definitely doesn't help me to chill out, but it takes my mind off the pain. 

My first order of business after the doll quilt and pj's was to fix the two sampler blocks that I didn't like. The Greek cross was bugging me, but I got the brainwave to add colored triangles to the corners and voila! I suddenly like it much better.

Secondly I put a border around the block that came out 3 inches too small. I made up a semi-fussy border to keep with the theme here, and again, I'm content with the result. 

Yesterday I made the Lucky Pieces block, and today I did the Minnesota block. Which, again, came out too small and needed a border. 

This quilt-along has taught me a few things, namely that a) I actually CAN follow a real bonafide quilt pattern, b) quilting solely from your stash can leave you high and dry at some point, and c) I don't really like paper piecing except for pulling the paper off when I'm done. That part is so bizarrely satisfying. Like picking a scab except not as painful or bloody. How'd you like that analogy?

Here are all my blocks so far:



I'm looking forward to snuggling up under this one for sure!