What dreams may come

In Progress

Sketches and figures

I had planned on going back to finish Focus Freeway once I got the backing done for mom's charity quilt, but I had a few stagnant days of nothing then got struck by inspiration for a new project. On the morning of my cousin's baby shower, I had woke from a dream of a quilt.

In the dream, someone had unfurled a folded quilt showing me the pattern. I remember awing over some of the piecings that used a fussy cutting a gradient fabric to bend an illusion within the block. The moment I woke up I declared I did not have any fabrics in the colors on that quilt but rushed to draw as much of the design as I could. I was not fast enough to get all of it but I got the core components of the pattern down before I forgot almost all my dream. Even now the only thing I remember is the center of the design and marveling over the fabrics. I don't even remember who held the quilt. My sketch was the best reminder of what I had seen.

I spent this week making the quilt top and working out the fine details of measurements. It took two and a half hours to get the measurements right for one of the major blocks. I do plan on writing this pattern out for others. I need someone else to test my figures to make sure I've gotten all the details right.

I was in a dilemma of fabric selection. I decided to go with something springy I purchased not long ago. I grabbed the layer cake I bought from Tuesday Mornings and some fabric from my Asheville haul. I wish had some more of the jewel-toned fabrics but I think I filled in with bits from the layer cake okay.

The whole design is made to go with a jelly roll and a layer cake. I ended up with a twin size using a remnant from Joann's for the background.  The main essence was the white diamonds down the center with the latticework coming off it. I think I will always second guess choices I made but overall it is very pretty. I may redo it in the future if I ever find the exact fabrics that matched my dream but this still brings the pink and green essence that I remember.

Tea for the day is a blend I picked up at Dragoncon last year. It's a Dr. Who inspired tea called Tardis Eleven- Geronimo by Tea and Absinthe. They have 5 blends for the doctors and other fandoms. The smell of this one caused me to fall in love with it. It smells like your eating a big bowl of vanilla custard. It is so good with shortbread cookies. I do suggest checking their flavors out.

2018 Quilt Review Part 1. East Tennessee Quilt

I haven't been posting in a long while but I still have been quilting. I have several tops that I finished but have not gotten around to quilting. I finished a quilt that I had started a while back for my brother. I had designed the top to reflect local East Tennessee landmarks and aesthetics.

I call it my East Tennessee quilt. The top is suppose to represent the Great Smokey Mountains that shape a very large part of this area and heritage. The section below is suppose to be the mountain's reflections in the rivers and streams. I used an orange for the mountains to show the fall colors in the leaves but green for the reflection to show how it is in the summer. The bottom checker board area represents the fall leaves and more of the color that can be seen in the area. The surrounding border actually represents the roads through the mountains.

I also have sewn on patches from the national park to show case many of the walking trail. The large patch in the center was an antique boy scouts patch that my cousin had earned. My grandmother found it and had no clue where it came from. She gave it to me to use since she knew I was doing this quilt. When my cousin came to visit I showed the quilt to him and he told me where it came from. I had asked at the time if he wanted it back because I had not started the quilting process but he said to keep it.

The quilt is actually a couple of years in the making. It took me about 2 weeks to do the piecing and another several weeks to find all the patches and sew them on. I did this part in 2017 around September. The only reason it got finished in 2018 was because I decided to finally quilt it. I started hand quilting in February because my wrists were hurting too much when I tried to pull it through my machine. I'm slow at this process so it was a 3 month journey getting it finished. It was suppose to be my brother's birthday present in 2017 but he got it in March of 2018. He has been very happy with it finding new things about it that he loves.

And finally before I forget this post is brought to you by Harney & Son's Paris Tea. I found a tin in World Market and added to my rather large collection. I love this one it smells so good like a citrus vanilla. I took several bags to work and everyone wanted one to use as an air freshener!