Orca Bay Mystery 7

I've been working on the Orca Bay Mystery and have a little progress to report.  At long last I finished step 6 (the Ohio Star blocks, finished New Year's Eve). So now I am squarely in the thick of step 7, making the red string flying geese units.  That will take me quite a while yet, but I couldn't resist playing with the layout that Bonnie gave us in step 8:

This is quite easily the "busiest" quilt I've ever worked on.  Sometimes I have my doubts as I'm sewing with my eyes less than a foot away from the fabrics.  But from across the room, it's absolutely stunning.  All my quilts should be appreciated from a distance!  That way you don't see the mismatched seams!  But seriously, I am getting very excited to see this come together and have loved every scrappy step along the way of this mystery.  It's not too late; the clues are still up if you want to download them and try this yourself.  The pieces are on the small side and there is a lot of piecing.  Check out the link above to see what bloggers all over the world are doing with this truly inspiring pattern!

I'm also linking up to Design Wall Monday where there's all sorts of quiltiness going on.

My mother-in-law showed up New Year's Eve with a grocery bag full of fabric for me.  "I thought you used all yours up and needed more," she says!  So far from it... I've been contemplating doing the weekly stash reports that Judy L. sponsors, where you report how much fabric goes in and out of your stash each week, with a yearly goal of using a bunch up.  I'm not sure if I'm ready to do all that math, though.  In any case, since it arrived in my stash in 2011, this fabric wouldn't count, would it?  And how much fabric is there in my stash?  I'll never tell (because I'd have to count it)!  I would like my stash to fit in my sewing area cupboards, though.  So if any of you have any opinions on whether I should do the stash-tracking thing, let me know.  Now would be the time to start if I do...