Inspired by what's under foot

This is the rug in my bedroom. I love the pattern and have thought about how it could look as a quilt.

Back in July, I decided to stop thinking and do something. Although I admire the fussy-cut English paper pieced quilts, I wasn't sure that was for me. Instead, I thought I could use a Stack-n-Whack or Four-Patch Posie method to get the effect I wanted. I just needed the right fabric.

Colors are a little off. The top fabric has a brown background.

The fabric above I found in the sale bin of my local quilt shop. I thought that the large flowers would end up filling some shapes while the brown background would fill others. But that didn't exactly happen, and it was obvious another fabric was needed. I found the bottom fabric in my stash after contemplating another fabric for the cross shapes. That would have made a nice quilt, but not my original vision.

It's recommended that you don't wash the fabric when making a Stack-n-Whack quilt, and I would agree. The unwashed, recently purchased fabric was easier to handle and align then the washed fabric from my stash.

The piecing plan wasn't hard to come up with. I'd been staring at that rug for some time thinking about how to put it together into a quilt. I would have to put all the pieces up on the design wall and sew it together in rows. There wasn't an easy way to piece this in blocks.

Kaleidoscope top, 40 x 50 inches. 

This is the top I have now. It's about 40 x 50 inches. I thought I was done, but as I wrote this post and looked at the rug inspiration, I wonder if I shouldn't make a narrow inner border of the light fabric and an outer border of the dark fabric. I'll have to see if I have enough of those fabrics left.

This didn't turn out as I had envisioned, but I like it. I think I may have to resort to fussy cutting and English paper-piecing to get the look I want. That won't be happening for a while though.

Linking up to Nancy's Quilty Inspiration for this week. Thank you, Nancy, for doing this. I'm looking forward to getting a glimpse into others' creative processes.

Snoring is my revenge

Nightly there is a battle of the bed covers, which I invariably lose. Not so much a problem during the summer, but we haven't really had one this year. Last night, after the annual block party, we slept under this:

Stack-n-Whack, pattern by Bethany Reynolds.

The quilt is probably 10 years old. I really should label these things, but by the time I finished this queen-size top I was so sick of it I almost didn't get it quilted. Fortunately there are long-armers so I didn't have to look at it any more. By the time I got it back I didn't detest it. It's definitely not a favorite, but it fits the bed.

And this:

Half Log Cabin, technique by Sharyn Squier Craig. Beautifully quilted by Maggi Honeyman.

I took this class in 1997 when I was relatively new to quilting. I like how the variety of background fabrics bring texture to the quilt. Unfortunately, I didn't have the same variety in the darks. Probably I was trying too hard to match colors and limited the number of different fabrics I used.

And this:

2002 Florida Cabin Fever Quilt Guild mystery quilt.

The real solution was Aunt Sukey's Choice, but I was playing around with the pieced units before the last clue and liked my solution better because it was more suited to the Asian fabric. This is one of my favorite quilts. I wish I'd had enough fabric to make it bigger, and that I hadn't experimented with black bobbin thread.

The block party was great even though it was quite chilly. We have the best neighbors, and every year on the last Saturday in August the street is blocked off, we set up tables and chairs in the streets, fire up the grills, play games and share appetizers, salads and desserts.


We lost seven trees this year on our block to Dutch Elm disease so there's no good way to string up the volleyball net. Instead one of the adult games was to guess which famous persons' name was written on the stickers on our foreheads by asking each neighbor two yes-or-no questions. My husband guessed he was Oprah after just three questions!

Don't look now! is having an unbelievable giveaway, and I am shamelessly plugging it here in order to get some extra entries. Although now probably you'll enter and my chances will go down. Kellie is giving away this gorgeous quilt. I can't believe it! I love her applique and patterns, but it's not really my quilting forte, so winning would be heaven.