Inspiration Can Come from the Oddest Places

 Are you one of those quilters who takes photos of interesting tile layouts, brick patterns or wallpaper? I am, and my latest finish was a result of the bathroom wallpaper at the hotel I stayed at for three months earlier this year.

After looking at this houndstooth print wallpaper for three months, I had figured out how to make it into a quilt. Yes, I'm sure there are houndstooth quilt patterns out there, but it was easy enough to figure out how to make it, so I never looked for one. Now, making a quilt in two shades of brown held NO interest for me, and my original idea was to use warm colors with a cream background. 

I wanted to check out all the local quilt shops in Yuma while I was there, and this quilt idea gave me parameters to work with. I had some cream fabric with me, so I started buying fat quarters in warm colors. I thought I'd start making the quilt while I was in Yuma, but I stuck with 2" square busting longer than I anticipated. It ended up being fortuitous that I didn't start it there. 

When I got back home, the grandtwins let me know that new quilts were in order, their favorites were in tatters. Miss S chose a quilt top I already had basted, so hers was a quick finish. Mr. L wanted a red and orange quilt. I showed him the houndstooth quilt I had worked up on EQ with all the warm colors and a cream background. He asked if I could take out the yellow, and use a black background instead. With a few clicks I altered the EQ version, and he said he liked it, so off I went. 

I pretty much put all other projects aside, since Miss S's quilt was finished so quickly. I try to treat the grandtwins as equally as possible, so making Mr. L wait for his quilt turn in the queue wasn't working for me. I promised him his quilt would be done by the first day of school (they are starting 7th grade!) which was yesterday. The twins wanted to spend a couple nights with us before school started back up, so my actual goal was to have it finished before they spent Sunday night here. I finished the quilting and sewed the binding on Saturday, just in time!

The quilt is twin sized, so it will work on his bed. I find this color combination more interesting than the two shades of brown on the hotel wallpaper. This was finish #14 for 2023.

I took this photo while I was quilting it, and you can see the flames I was quilting with a variegated thread. 

Since I had the twins for a couple days this week, I enjoyed the Nana time, and didn't sew while they were here. I did finish cutting another quilt top this week, and I worked on organizing my fat quarters. I got the yellow ones I didn't use for the houndstooth quilt refolded and put away. I also put away several other fat quarters I've purchased here and there, and my birthday fat quarters that were still sitting out were put away as well. 

Today my goal is to continue FMQ on the next quilt in the queue, and I'd like to start sewing blocks for the baby quilt I need next. This weekend is all about doing the big applique panel for the scooter rally quilt! I finally got the design I wanted blown up to size, and I spent one day this week tracing the pieces onto fusible and figuring out how to layer them for the least amount of bulk. This weekend will be final fabric selections, and hopefully getting everything placed and fused. I can't actually finish designing the rally quilt until I have the finished size of the center panel. I've always found applique prep takes much longer than actually sewing it down, and placement for these pieces is really important. Applique isn't my favorite, which is why I usually stick to raw edge machine applique, but I don't mind doing it from time to time, and sometimes it's exactly what you need for a quilt, as with this one. The rest of the quilt will be pieced, and that's my favorite!