Tardy Monday Design Wall

Oops, I wrote it, but forgot to click "publish!" Here's what's on the design wall this week.

The pattern is "Chevron News" by Brigitte Heitland of Zen Chic for Moda. The original pattern calls for "Citrine" -- bright yellow -- but since I'm making it for an Air Force Academy graduate, I decided to use royal blue as the accent color.

There's a bit of a story behind this one. While I was in Texas last summer, I ordered a half-yard bundle of Zen Chic's "Paper" from Fat Quarter shop. I didn't have a plan for it, I just liked it. And it's OK to buy it just because you think it's pretty (thus saith the Elder Son. Smart guy, huh?(.

When May 1 rolled around and I realized I had one month to finish Blake's graduation quilt -- fast pattern to the rescue! First, I had to buy assorted yardage of "Ink" for the dark HSTs. Ruth's Stitchery to the rescue! I cut the required 10" squares. stitched those puppies together on my 1500 stitchesperinch Juki (her name is Zippy) and started to trim.

Then, this happened:

You know, the funny thing is, it didn't start to bleed immediately. When I realized I had caught the edge of my finger with the rotary cutter, I held it up and said, "Damn, that's going to hurt." Can you tell I was cutting with my left hand? Thanks to Barb Shie, I can cut with either hand.

Lucky for me, the cut wasn't too deep. So I finished up the quilt yesterday, and it's going to Denise to long-arm tomorrow. And it's still more than two weeks until graduation!

The moral of the story: Don't watch sad movies while trimming blocks!

From the desk of your

Sunday Stash: Some Solids

The best thing about my job at Ruth's Stitchery is, when I "ooh and aah" over a new fabric line, my boss orders it!

Such was the case when our fabric rep showed us this new group of solid batiks from Hoffman. Indah Solids by Me + You.

Although they look like any other solid fabric, the grey goods (the fabric before dyeing or printing) is the same as that used for batiks. So it doesn't fray, and it has a nice "hand." I snatched up the FQ bundles of both colorways before they even hit the shop floor.

Because I want to make this quilt from Beyond the Reef.

This simple block relies on the clever placement of accent fabrics to make the quilt look complicated -- but it's not!

The Indah collection also includes a printed batik line.

 I can't bear to open the bundle just yet, so here is a peek at all the colors:

I can't wait to cut into these pretties! But first, it's graduation time, and I have three graduation quilts to finish. Come back tomorrow to see the most recent graduation quilt on Design Wall Monday.

Halfway through May? How did that happen?

From the desk of your