A home in the vineyard...

Yee-haw!!  Only one more block to go, then the body of the quilt will be done and it's off to work on the borders.  The couple needed a house, I wanted more purple, and I love making grape clusters.

The date to drop off quilts to be entered in the Sauder Village Quilt Show is exactly 2 months from today...am I insane to think I can have it finished??  Oh yes, definitely, but I can always dream!  Can I continue to ignore other quilting projects and deadlines until then??  Yikes!  I'm going to register it online...maybe that will spur me on.  I feel motivated right now.

Yesterday, Ola, Mary ("Jonesy"), and I were determined to lay out the blocks and come up with the final lay-out.  With Beth's help, we did just that.  We also decided it needed sashing to calm it down a bit, but only a really skinny one (3/4 inch finished).  We were haphazardly pinning, un-pinning, moving, re-pinning until we found the right recipe.  Even though this picture is very sloppy and the house block is unfinished and untrimmed (and I only took it to remind me of the lay-out when I got home with the blocks), I'll share so you can see where I'm going with this.

We were auditioning sashing fabrics, and Ola picked the perfect one.  It has a black background with a small scale flower/vine motif, which softens the black.  I call it "light black."  Sashing makes piecing the top a little harder and will also cause me to have to stretch out the borders a bit to fit, but I think sashing is a good idea.  It gives the eye a place to rest between the busy blocks.

Sashing will change the character of the quilt a bit, but since I've already changed the character maybe I can be forgiven.  I hope it does not offend that I didn't follow the pattern completely.  As this is intended for my daughter one day, I really wanted it to reflect her interests and our family.  I think of the bride as my daughter and all the other elements felt like they needed to fit. 

When I get the last block finished, I will tell the story of this quilt.  I think of this top as a story to be read through each block.  Ola, my best friend and Riley's Fairy Goddmother, helped me design the last block.  She saw my pattern for the last one yesterday, and had a great idea.  After doodles by her, I went home and re-worked the pattern around her great idea.  It is going to be so cool. 

I hope to share the block very soon!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)