Another Bird block and a starry start

Well much has happened since my last post but I'll start with the quilty bits. I am still working away on the bird blocks for Birdsong. Since most of the finished ones look pretty similar I am just posting one to give you an idea of the color direction. Half the blocks will have black birds and the other half will have teal birds. The flowers and berries will be shades of red and pink and of course there are lots of green leaves. Nice easy appliqué witch is certainly appreciated right now.

And I have started piecing these little 4 1/2 stars that will be used in a long range project. I have had the pattern for Phebe by Di Ford for a few years now and have been collecting fabrics ever since. Though I have not begun the appliqué, I thought I might get a jump on piecing the little stars. They are meant to be rather scrappy but so far I am not sure about the colors. I think I probably should be starting with the appliqué but I think it will work out as long as I just stick with all the fabric I have pulled. I do find it much easier to work in a very controlled color palette but I want this to look a bit more happenstance to we will see where this takes me.

I hesitate to give any more house updates cause things change daily but here is how things stand right now. Our first buyer had to pull out after finding out his job was at risk, the house was put back on the market and we got an offer the first day. We are under contract again and just waiting to see how this one goes. And in an unfortunate turn of events, my knee went out on Thursday and I ended up in the emergency room and unable to straighten my leg or bear weight. That evening I was improved enough to brace the knee and hobble around so tomorrow I head to the doctor for a possible MRI. Kinda hard to do much, but at least I can still hand sew!