Sallie's Quilt

Hello Everyone,

It's been a long time between posts for me. As usual, it's been busy around our house. We are going to have a booth at the Livermore Wine Festival this weekend. Joe has been busy working on his creations that he designs out of wine barrels all winter long. No matter how prepared we are, there is always something more that needs to be completed.

Our booth will be right in front of the quilt shop, so stop on by and say hello. While you are there, go in the shop a pick up the new Quilt Sampler magazine.....featuring In Between Stitches! We are all so excited and proud to be one of the featured shops.

I'm going to be teaching this pattern at In Between Stitches this summer.....so I thought I should make the quilt first. (Isn't that a good idea!) Sallie's quilt is inspired by a Civil War dog.....not a person.

So how do you approach a new project? I go to my fabric "mail box" and start pulling out every possible fabric that I think I'm going to use. I look in every plastic bin, drawer, cupboard and closet and then the fun begins. I sort by color and line everything up so I can get a good view of what I have on hand. Each 9-1/2" block requires five different fabrics. I start with my center fabric and pull colors that will compliment the center block. I've used every color I can think of, hot pink, purple, teal, cheddar cheese, red, blue, green and it works!

Here are most of the blocks up on the design wall. I'm always checking to see what colors I need to add or subtract to create a balanced look. I know that all of the blocks will have a black sashing next to them, so I'm not putting really dark fabric in the corners. At this point I'm thinking nice but.........

What a difference a sashing makes! The hodgepodge of color and chaos suddenly becomes radiant! This quilt is going to be fabulous. My t0-do list today includes working on the two remaining blocks and the posts and sashing. I've not yet decided if I'm going to make a blue or a red border. Joe likes the red and he has a good eye for color.

This is going to be a big quilt and soon I'll be moving from the design wall to the floor. Zinny will just love having all of this color right under her little doggie nose.

Time for me to get back to work in my little sewing nook while listening to my favorite music. Have a wonderful day everyone.

As always,

Lynn