I have tried – really, really tried – to stay completely focused on piecing the flowers for the Gardens Gone Wild quilt. And really? That hasn’t been much of a problem. Until last week, that is. Last week, the 3.5″ Inklingo clamshell edge collection was released. I would have been okay because I’ve played with half clamshells before – and know that I like sewing them, so the new size alone wouldn’t have drawn me away from the flowers.

It was this optical illusion (which I’m posting with permission from Linda Franz) that was shown on the Inklingo blog post announcing the release of the 3.5″ clamshell edge collection that grabbed my attention and just wouldn’t let go! I tried – oh, how I tried – for quite a few days to file the idea away for future reference and forget about it. Guess what? It didn’t work. I kept going back to the blog post with that illustration over and over and over again.

So finally I gave in and this week I picked out some fabrics for it. In a few seconds last night, I had two sheets of half clamshells printed on each of my three fabrics.

A few minutes more and they were all cut out, ready to sew.

I decided I’d make one block, just to make sure I liked the fabrics I chose.

Pressed, but seams not yet graded.

Now all the pieces that have been printed and cut out so far are tucked away in their project box, along with the thread I’ll be using when I start to sew this in earnest. And the box is going to be the first I pick up when the Gardens Gone Wild top is done. Because I absolutely cannot resist making that optical illusion.

I’m going back to my flowers starting today!

“Kaleidoscope”

This photo of Jake made me laugh the second I looked at it. I didn’t realize I had caught him midway through a wink or – hmm, is he perhaps trying to show his displeasure at having the camera pointed at him yet again?

Baxter has been very interested in watching the robins out on the roof garden the past few days.