Merricks Update

Two days from now, I should receive via email the final installment for Merricks Nth, the BOM I've working on struggling with for the past year. I'm nowhere near where I would like to be on this. 

It started out fine, with the assignments for the first couple of months going together very nicely. Then came Month #5 when the deterioration began. I finally got the Wiggly Worms panel done, and it wouldn't have been so difficult if I'd paid more careful attention to the directions. But the Lozenges, last dealt with in December, remain an unsolved mystery. And there are a couple of other months that just got printed and set aside as they arrived while I concentrated on Pick A Petal.

Today I cleared off the design wall, put the photo of what the final proj is supposed to look like at the top, and they put up all of the elements that are [perhaps] finished. 

I also prepped three innocuous-looking panels (two of which are shown here) that I will enjoy hand-buttonholing. The pattern calls for needle-turn applique, but y'all know how I feel about that. So buttonholes it is. Also, after consulting with Himself, I've decided that I'll do the stems in the dusky green they feature, but I'm not going to match threads for those bazillion leaves. This quilt-to-be is already plenty busy, so I'm going to do those leaves in that rich purple from their background. 

Tomorrow and the next day are relatively empty, so I think I'll spend some time working on the rest of the unapproached patterns. They don't appear to be too challenging. I've said that before.

The unanswered question remains: Should I take one more stab at those wretched Lozenges (starting from scratch since the first attempt ended up in the bin) with no better idea of how to do them? Or should I measure the size of what the finished panel would be and design something else entirely to fill it? I'm leaning toward the latter, but I won't really know until everything else is done.

Oh, and here's what the final project is supposed to look like. The big center medallion instructions will arrive this week. The dreaded Lozenges are under the medallion, a bit left of center.