These hand-dyed fabrics have been in my stash for ages.  I cut each one of them in half, gave half to a friend, kept half for myself and we’re both going to work on a quilt using just them and perhaps one other fabric as a neutral.  I’ve wanted to make something special with these for ages and am hoping that having this challenge will be just the thing I need to come up with the right design to showcase them.  The hard part of this for me will be that it has to be a machine-pieced design.  The fabrics are gorgeous but they’re very tightly woven, even more so than a batik, so I know that hand piecing would be too much for my hands.  I’ve been pouring over some of the encyclopedia of blocks books and think this may be what finally gets me to absolutely force myself through EQ and play with some design ideas that way.

Do you ever feel like you should limit how many blogs you visit because of the sheer overload of inspiration?  On Thursday, I saw a quilt at Nonnies Cedar Chest that really intrigues me.  I can see it done in pinks and greens and creams or with a beautiful Christmas red and green.  I love the ribbon effect Charlsey got with her design.  I think it’s a very good thing I have no Christmas fabric as I have a feeling I’d be itching to start this one.  But it may be hard to resist doing it in some lovely soft pinks and greens.

We had another amazingly mild day on Thursday with the promise of at least a couple more days like that to come.  The longer we can put off the bitter cold and true winter weather, the better.

The cats are showing how well they can curl up into kitty circles.  Lester in a kitty bed:

And Smudge on the couch: