Test run

I made a few blocks of my proposed alternate block in the Quiltville mystery design. As you can see, they actually form the primary pattern you first see when you look at the design - the horizontal and vertical rows of neutral squares with the red and pink x's in the intersections. Interesting. The primary block in the initial design is now a secondary player.
I think I like this, but I like busy designs. Opinions?

What about this?

Still fiddling with the Quiltville mystery quilt design. I took the string blocks down from the design wall and have been pondering in EQ what else I could use. If I don't do the string blocks between the pieced ones, I think I'll do this alternate block which makes a secondary pattern. As you can see, I like very busy quilt designs!
Maybe the string blocks will end up in a Project Linus quilt or something.

Radio themed decorating

Here's what my husband, aka the Radio Guy, found to decorate his computer room wall above the new sofa bed: See: Poster reproductions of old hobby radio enthusiast magazines from the 1930's through 1950's (plus a cover from "G-Men: The Federals in Action", but never fear, look at the cover blurbs; it's got a radio theme story too). Aren't they cool?

That's our house for you: a quilt and a radio in every room!

Conflicted

Well, it's happened again. At some point of the Quiltville mystery quilts I become conflicted whether I want to complete the design per the instructions or go my own way. This time, it's because of the string blocks.

Here are a few of the Prickly Pear blocks and the alternating string blocks (and a little of my sewing room wallpaper too, on the right side! Small design wall.): You see, I'm not a big string block fan. Although she's cut them in half and resewn them together in an interesting way, they're still string blocks and I'm just not feeling it. That's the problem with these two block designs from Quiltville. The first one I did, Double Delight, went together well and I loved it. The ones after that, though, sometimes don't seem to jell well for me. I can't see the relationship between the two blocks. Are they related or are they simply coexisting on the same quilt?

So, I have been poking around in EQ trying out different options. I made several I liked and Husband liked too (he didn't like the string blocks). BUT, I have all these string blocks already made - what to do? Do I want to make 25 more blocks in a different pattern? Do I have enough matching scraps? I don't know. An alternative would be to set the blocks in a vertical strip zigzag set, which I love, but I would have to buy the coordinating print for the background because I don't have enough of any print that would work. And this quilt was supposed to be a stash buster.

Give me an opinion. Do you like the string blocks?

Row, row, row. . .

. . .your quilt. Sew the rows together, that is.

It's that time again, the moment when it is most possible for me to mess up construction of a quilt. I seldom make mistakes assembling blocks, but I might possibly hold the world record for sewing rows together backwards, upside down, or just plain wrong. It's my Achilles heel. Somewhere between the design wall/floor/bed and the sewing machine I can completely confuse or forget how I was supposed to sew the row I am holding. It's a gift. I think this is turning out really well. It's going to go on the couch in my husband's den/computer room. Every couch needs a quilt, in my opinion, even if I'm the only one who uses it! (Husband prefers afghans.) The room is decorated in blue/beige and he currently has the blue butterfly quilt on his couch, which is not quite manly enough for his room. Plus, the rust accent color will be nice.

This is a great pattern because it looks nicely intricate but is easy-peasy to assemble. I am totally in love with the color scheme. The fabric is "Silk Road" by Benartex and it's gorgeous.
I changed my mind on the size of the quilt and after enlarging it had to scurry around online and find more of the backing and binding fabric. Don't you just love the internet?

Work in progress

I think I'm going to call it "Katmandu". Don't know why. And I'd love to find a quilting design that looks like paisley.

Too brown?

That was my husband's opinion. A brown monotone design with small red and blue accents was my plan. And I like it.