Key West Dreams

 Years ago I visited Key West, Florida with my friend, Jan. One of the highlights of the trip was finding and photographing the home my favorite playwright, Tennessee Williams, owned. Another of the highlights was hitting the fabric shops where I bought quite a bit of tropical print fabrics. I bought several half yards and full yards, and left the shops with large bags and a skinnier wallet.

Once I got all the fabric home, it was drooled over, folded, and put away until the perfect quilt pattern could be found. I finally found the quilt pattern! Charming Fractions, Pattern #229, by Mountainpeek Creations, Centennial CO 80122. Of course, the pattern showed the quilt in solid colors - not for me! Oh, no. I had to do it my way. So I bought the almost black sashing (the black-appearing pieces between the squares of color) and cut up my fabric to make a twin sized quilt. I sewed the sashing on, and cut the blocks. I put the blocks up on my wall•, and nearly went blind! Waaaaayyyyyy too busy. Not enough dark in between the pieces. What to do? What to do?

(•A design wall, or 'wall' in my case is the felted side of a large felt backed plastic table cloth. I can put my squares up on the felt and they stay. Then I can arrange and rearrange them until I have them all in the order I want.)

I divided my blocks into two piles, and bought enough solid fabric to make the vertical blocks solid, and the horizontal blocks the prints! Of course, I used all the extra dark fabric for the sashing of the second twin quilt, and as soon as I have it sewn together, I will have to get more fabric for the borders. Oh, golly! I'll just have to buy more fabric! (Remember: She who dies with the most fabric wins!)

At any rate, I thought you might like to see the 'quilt in progress'. When Aaron moves, I will give him the bed he is currently sleeping on and replace it with two twin beds, so each bed will have its own quilt. The quilt shown here has corner blocks of bright yellow. The one I'm working on now will have corner blocks of the lavender.

I had thought of using dark colors in between the prints, but they didn't look as nice as the brights. Sleeping under them will surely cause one to have Key West Dreams - dreams of warmth and tropical nights - welcome in our cold and icy winters.

My Gratefuls:
*That I've been able to travel as much as I have
*That I'm still planning trips
*That Jiang Li will ship from the printer this coming Monday
*That people are eager to buy and read Jiang Li
*That my sewing machine works!

What I'm Reading:
*West Into the Night and Destiny Disrupted
I finished the bio of Richard Wetherill: Anasazi - Pioneer Explorer of Southwestern Ruins last night. If you're at all interested in the history of New Mexico and the Anasazi and Navajo Indians, I suggest you look for a copy in your local used book store, or perhaps online at www.abebooks.com. It is by Frank McNitt

What I'm Working On:
*Am still working on the rewrite of Jibutu and the Mage. My Monday Night Writer's Group gave me some really great ideas, which, of course, change the story somewhat ;-)
*The second of Key West Dreams


Quote for this Post:
"Blankets wrap you in warmth, quilts wrap you in love." -- from A Prairie Home Quilts