Additions

The snail's trail blocks are going really well.  So well, I got a little bored of making them. I knew I needed another dimension. So in-between each little snail swirl will be an embellishment block.  I had to draw up templates for these, since I am generally a simple block kinda girl.  I didn't want these to be simple, and believe me, they weren't.  But I LOVE how they turned out.

This is just a nine-patch. I saw this block on pinterest, and have no idea how to rearrange measurements so that they make the block size I need.  Luckily, this was a simple one to draw a template for.  I can use a ruler, but I don't do math where seem allowances are concerned. It always ends badly.

When I found this block, I forgot that I wasn't supposed to be doing nine 4.5"x4.5". I was supposed to accommodate that this was a 4 patch design, and kept the patches at 4.5", so I had to add some extra blocks around it. But now, I kinda like that the star is in the corner. All that's really important is that I have both a light and dark star block.

Okay, have to make about 30 more blocks overall, so I need to get busy. Just felt like throwing a post up today. I'm pretty jazzed by the results.

poor progress is still progress

A quilt for Erica, my dear cousin, has been in my mind since I first decided I wanted to quilt 17 years ago.  That's a lot of years to come to grips with the differences between reality and fantasy.  I have been envisioning this epic quilt, for a lady I have loved and admired since I've known her (waaay longer than 17 years), as a kind of magical miracle.

Turns out, I don't have miraculous magic within my current realms of creativity.  But I'm getting there.  Until I fully do, she gets a quilt anyway.  THIS IS THE YEAR.

She requested blue and green.  So I accidentally had an earth shattering moment at my favorite quilt shop and decided to ignore the request and do purple.  I went in looking for blues and greens, I promise!  But in my quest to learn to release my creativity from the shackles of practicality, I went with my gut.

Now, if only that worked on the actual design.

In my usual fashion, I have been through SO MANY piecing concepts, including a regrettable experiment where I whimsically made random blocks willy-nilly, hoping the common fabrics and colors would tie the look together, like a funky sort of bohemian chaos.  And it just looked like a confusing vomit of perfectly good fabrics, all being used the wrong way.

So, I picked a design I have loved in the past, and always look at admiringly in magazines and pinterest when it's done just right.

Snail's trail.  And here was my primary result:
 

At the last minute, I sorta decided to throw in some blue, and I'm really glad I did.  It gives the block a sort of mystical quality that just purple wouldn't have been able to provide.

Here's my practice placing:

I think I like the individual blocks better than the overall look.  But I'm not sure because my mind will not see this as a completed piece.  I cannot imagine what this will look like, for some reason.

Haha, this was just a little experiment.  I love that center block there, but it's too small to use in this. (If you click on this picture to see it large, ignore the coffee spill on my carpet, that's gone now!)

I guess I'm still in the the design phase.  I mean, I like it.  I currently have six 12"x12" blocks going, so obviously I like it.  I'm just not so fully convinced this is The One.  Weird, I had an easier time finding a husband.

By the way, remember the purple and rust table runner?  Today I received a gift from that runner's new owner!!

That's a new book and masses of chocolate!!  I had to include the cute card and the Swedish shopping bags.  I've already started eating the chocolate, and dayum...  Almost too delicious to be true.

Thinking of giving myself a slogan.  "Will quilt for books and chocolate."