Blue Eggs, and a Jewel Box AKA Buckeye Beauty WIP

It's been almost a MONTH!!! since I posted anything - Where have I been?  However, the weather has been beastly cold - down to -28 below zero at the airport, and several other mornings at -18.  We had a 10 inch snowfall, fortunately light and fluffy, and had to do the snowblowing thing, a demand that took us both several days to recover from.  ( I know, that's a dangling preposition!)  We did the snow blowing and the temp was still BELOW zero.  Some kind unknown persons with a tractor plowed  the entire block sidewalks - what a generous gift to all of us.  We are most grateful!  It's been a week since it snowed, then the extreme cold kept us all inside, and today was the first day I actually ventured anyplace in the car. 

Last Saturday, having some ham left from Thanksgiving, I decided to make a REAL breakfast.  DH brought home eggs from the Barber Shop and I opened the carton to this lovely surprise. 

 All lovely shades of (neutral?) brown but the blue ones were just plain lovely.  I've never seen them before and had to Google "Blue Eggs".  Todays lesson!  

The Araucana, also known in the USA as a South American Rumpless,^[1] is a breed of chicken originating in Chile. The Araucana is often confused with other fowl, especially the Ameraucana and Easter Egger chickens, but has several unusual characteristics which distinguish it. They lay blue eggs, have feather tufts near their ears, green legs and yellow undersides to their feet. Conversely, the Ameraucana has blue-slate to black legs and either black or white on the undersides of the feet.  

Below is a current project on my "Design Floor" - yes, another scrappy quilt.  I kept the HSTs all in browns, deep reds and a few greens.  I kept the rest of the palette somewhat consistent, with a few brights for "twinkle."  The lights really needed to be scrappy for a bit of contrast (IMHO).  This should be 10 x 11 blocks and the blocks are 6 inch finished.  I was smart this time and make ALL the 4-patches, and ALL the HSTs and kept track of them with a tally sheet. in baggies, then started sewing them together. It's a small suggestion, but often I don't count ( duh) which is definitely a waste of time.  I make 10 blocks at a time, then get up and do something else.  Sewing definitely goes faster if one does not need to stop and cut more, a little at a time. This block has so many possibilities.  If you are consistent in sewing the same way each time,  I found if I twirled all the seams in the back, (pressed all clockwise) each block's seams will nest in the next block with no problem seams - a good time saver.