More Distractions

When I was finishing up the piecing& quilting on the Pinwheel quilt.... I pondered if there was any quilt that I liked well enough to piece...just for the sake of the end product.  Since I don't like making more than one of anything....I  started thinking about samplers.  Which took me back to when I started quilting and I had planned a 50 block quilt to represent each of the states.  I have a binder of ideas and patterns that I had put together.   However...back then I didn't applique, and I hadn't spent much time in some of the states...so my pattern choices might be different now.  (I will omit the details of which state I chose for a "Boondocks" block.) This all reminded me of another project I started at that time, that I dug out of the "Archive" basket.  (That's a cross between a UFO bin and a scrapbook, filled with things I either have finished, or have no desire to.)

This used English paper piecing and was intended for the back of a jacket in 1987.  No telling where those missing states are.  But this trip down memory lane reminded me of 2 reasons that the USA quilt had not been made.  1) I couldn't imagine displaying a red,white & blue quilt  (remember...this is the 80's when everything was mauve & slate blue) and  2) I was drafting 12" blocks, which would make for an enormous quilt.

So that got me thinking.....What if I made the quilt just red and white.  And made 6" blocks...like those Dear Jane quilts that I'm in awe of.  BUT WAIT!  Wouldn't it be cool if the fabric for each state came FROM each of those states!!!!  And I just happen to be going on a cross-country road trip this summer.

And I had just bought the Quilter's Travel Companion...with the thought that we are going to have to pee sometime...and all quiltshops have bathrooms.  Long story short...I spent several hours planning a route that would get us to a quilt shop in each state.  We'll be a little pressed for time when we get back West...but those are states in which I have friends & family so there are still opportunities for collecting fabric from those states.

And...of course, I figured out that I'd really only need 1/8 yard of fabric, which could be mailed for a 1st class stamp.  So I could always lure my family, Facebook and Blogger friends into joining my treasure hunt.  After all, it would be less than $2 to participate.  Since I started this evil plan a couple weeks ago...Harley Dude brought be a fat quarter of red from his bike trip to Oregon, and Debbie picked up some red in Maui while she was on a business trip.

Today's Distraction:  I'm off to the Boise Basin Quilt Show.
Wearing the Stalker Cat skirt.


Editor's note:  Harley Dude is now referring to this as "A poodle skirt for cat butlers."

Distractions

Here's the zinnia fabric skirt that I started the other day when people were in the way of my quilting.  The fabric has been carefully aging a decade or so (like fine wine)  in the stash.

With poppies on the reverse side.  My family prefers this side to the zinnias. It has only been in the stash about 5 years.

But here's my new love.  Stalker Cat.  One of the Helene Knott, Garden Patch Cats.
I love this cat so much, that it's probably a really good thing that my real cat is orange...because if she were white, I might be inclined to dye her green.

(It might have been me)

We just got back from a motorcycle rally.  

Someone snuck some handquilting into the saddle bags.

And convinced the group to stop at the bar that just happens to be across the street from the quilt shop in McCall.