I am making progress on my mission to use up my fabric stash and use patterns from the multitude of unopened, untested patterns already in my possession! (Although I am not sure how to honestly assess my progress if I am still buying more fabric...which I am.)

I have had Eleonore ever since it first came out. Only yesterday did I cut open the package and extract the pattern. I had some stretch cotton fabric I had bought a few years ago because it was advertised for shirt making, but I would never wear it as a shirt because it's too heavy and contains lycra. In fact, I would not wear it anywhere on my upper body because the feel is just too irritating—as I discovered when I made a dress from McCall's 6346 out of another fabric I bought of the same type. 

However, the fabric seemed like it might work for pants. At any rate, I am working on staying focused on the mantra "progress, not perfection." So I just dove in, traced out the pattern, and cut it out.

At first, I thought they were too tight, but when I put them on again for pictures, they were pretty comfortable.  

The top stitching does not show up at all--maybe because of the busy pattern, maybe because this is just regular thread, not topstitching thread.

We're thinking of buying an RV. It's a Gulf Stream Vintage Cruiser, which has a cool retro design on the inside. It got me thinking about making a quilt that would go along with the view. 
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So I went through my multitude of quilting books (bought at book sales for cheap) and searched for something I liked. I didn't like things that were too busy. I had to find something the man of the house would like so no flowers and such. I came across the Ohio star pattern and liked the idea that it could kind of represent our homestead state while we were traveling. Plus it was simple and I liked how it looked.

The directions in the books were mighty complicated looking. I went searching on YouTube and found fabulous resources. The first was a great video from Theresa Down Under: Ohio star quilt block. Thanks to those directions, I was confident I could handle it. I watched a whole set of videos on Craftsy (free while they get the platform up and running again!! So excited it's back to Craftsy!): ​Quilt tutorial. This was excellent and showed the whole process of quilting from creating the blocks to binding.  

I made my first block ever out of old sheets. All I had was blue. The real one will be red and white but this was just to see if I could pull it off. It was surprisingly easy and enormously satisfying. It fit when it it was done. That is, there was nothing to fit so it couldn't disappoint. Hahahahaha.

Then, as per usual, my ambitions started to get out of hand. I thought, after I make my quilt, I will make one for my sister, who has restored an old 15' RV and camps with it. My husband advised me to check with her before I put in the effort but I didn't want to wait* and the compromise was I made her a couple pot holders in the colors I thought she might like. I used the same Ohio start block thinking it would appeal to her for the same reasons as me. 
[*Update: the teal was the wrong color. Oh wells. ] 

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the whole quilting process. We'll see how long it lasts when I try to make a queen-sized quilt! 

I made larger block in red and white.  I want the final blocks to be 12" so I can make the queen-size quilt 4 blocks by 5. I will make the white border sashing wider than the picture below, wide enough that the width of the final quilt fits the proper dimensions (90" x 108").

So here is the block I made. I cut the squares for the triangle squares 5.5" and the center and corner squares 4.5". That wasn't large enough because the final block is only 11" and that includes the 1/2" seam allowance, so all told the square is 1.5" inches too small all around.

I forgot to trim the individual triangle squares before sewing them together. Oopsie. Turns out that step matters... Still, I'm excited. I think this will be a fun project that will look cool in the end.