What I do at Mandy's house

One thing I lack, that I desperately need, is a place to lay out blocks. A design wall, or floor, or table - something. The largest area I have is my living room floor, but it's surface is the very slick Pergo, and it's the home of a husky. We have a saying in our house - every season is husky shedding season. You can see the hairs fly off him when he walks, like the dirt coming off Linus' blanket. So even if I sweep or vacuum immediately before using that floor, stray hairs still find their way back, and it's impossible to keep things in place on such a slick surface.

All of that to say, my favorite thing to do at Mandy's house is lay out quilt blocks. She has a great spot in her carpeted living room. It's like it was made to lay out quilt blocks. I'm sure that's what the builder had in mind. The last time I was there, I put my Salt Air quilt top together, and this time I put my gray diamonds together:

It's quite a stunning quilt to look at in person, and I love all the warm grays, but boy was it a pain to piece! I didn't follow a pattern, so I didn't have measurements for the various pieces. I just trimmed them according to the edge of the piece I was attaching it too. Not very accurate. If you were to look too closely, the magic of it would all dissipate as you saw very few seams actually meet where they're supposed to. It's a gift for an old and dear friend, someone who has always been there for me. As I was struggling to piece it, and working to overcome the urge to pick out every seam in the hopes of greater accuracy with a second try, I kept repeating to myself "it's a gesture of friendship, not undying love." It's ok for a gift to be pretty and imperfect. At least a gift to a non-quilter:)

The prints all came from Joann's, some are a great quality and others are unbelievably thin. The worst were a couple of fat quarters I picked up and you don't get a chance to really feel the fabric in those since they're all folded up and taped. Suffice it to say I will never buy another fat quarter from there. The solid is Kona Pewter.

It has now joined my every growing stack of unquilted quilt tops. And since I dropped my walking foot in Mandy's driveway and didn't notice it, it may be a while before that stack gets any smaller.

Linking up to Freshly Pieced for her WIP Wednesday.

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