Workin' On The Chain Gang

I've been slaving away on my color challenge the last few days. I found my grey felt so I could put up my psuedo-design wall, and the floor was even clear enough that I could get to it. (The "design floor" just wasn't working so well - mostly because Shade wants to get under the blocks and Dunkel practices his "snow plow" technique on them!) I finished the last 5 stars this morning, and this is what they looked like at that point.

After lunch, I worked on the chain blocks. They go faster than the stars! This was where I was at at "quitting time" this afternoon.

I'm happy with the way this is looking at this point. This color doesn't photograph well, so I don't think the photo looks as good as "real life". Hopefully, this won't take as long to complete as I've been thinking. . .but on the other hand, I'm afraid I might jinx myself by saying that!

It's been tough to make myself focus on this. That Quilter's ADD keeps trying to kick in. I've found something like 4 patterns on various blogs that I want to try. And I had to go play on the Moda Fabricmatcher site, just because. I even vaccumed the quilt studio as an avoidance technique! But, I'm trying to be tough with myself. We'll see how it goes! I'm also having some problems with being accurate again, after all that "liberation"! I somehow don't have the patience for the fussiness of these little blocks after being/getting liberated. *sigh*

This is my progress on my "leaders & enders" (a la Bonnie) for just today! Pretty soon I'll either need to start putting these together (I think they'll be 9-patches) or I'll need to cut more 2 1/2" squares. Either way, that is A Good Thing.

Here is Shade, "helping" yet again. Don't you love this crazy face?! Both cats are always with me in the studio. Lately the weather has been so nice that I've had the window wide open. Both cats are usually trying to sit in the window at the same time, which makes for some grumpiness. I keep telling them they need to work it out themselves, but they don't seem to be listening. . . .just like kids!

Here's what Shade is laying on top of in the previous photo. These are some of the border ideas I've been playing with. I photocopied the magazine photo of the quilt in black & white, then cut it out of that page and copied it in the middle of the blank page so I could play with border options without having to draft the whole thing on grid paper. I'm leaning toward the option on the top of the page OR the applique. I know the applique would look good, but I don't know that I want to do it because it would be so small. I have a few other ideas that I haven't drafted yet.

If you have any other ideas, I'd love to hear them. I seem to be stuck on the "same old - same old". My ideal would be a pieced border that I could just put together with the rest of the blocks, both for simplicity and ease of construction. Anywho, your suggestions are welcome!

Can I help??