Time Out

I've been playing with those 199 shoo-fly blocks. Maybe I'm making it harder on myself than it needs to be but things are not coming together as easily as you might think they would. I mean, I have 199 blocks for heaven's sake! Surely I ought to be able to set 120 of them together in a pleasing arrangement.

First I did this:

It was when I reached that lower corner that I thought about that yellow panel. It's been in my stash for years, a thoughtful gift from my SIL. I've tried a couple of times to build a quilt around it but it's still waiting for the right time and place.

Somehow using it in this very scrappy quilt seemed like a good idea. It still does. So I tried building around the panel.

This is better in some respects but I'm still not happy with it. Our weather has taken a turn toward the frigid, and my son brought in a gift quilt that needs to be bound so this is what my design wall looks like at the moment:

You will note, if you look carefully, that I have to fold and pin the design wall extension up out of the way of the wall heater and thermostat. I might not worry about the room getting cold during the night if it weren't for my studio canary, Pippen.

I'll be pruning that quilt and applying its binding before I making another run at the shoo-fly blocks. One of these days I'm going to have to apply myself to the job of preparing for Christmas too!