I wasn’t able to get much sewing done this week, but I did find some time to start a new project. I have a couple of Trail Mix charm packs from Riley Blake Designs that will make such a great quilt for one of my guys and I’ve been thinking about what pattern to use. Last night I just started placing the fabric in a random row pattern on the design wall.  I liked the way it looked, but felt it was a bit predictable.

Playing on the design wall.

So I cut some of the charm squares in half and pulled another print and a solid from my stash and added those to the mix.  To help make the pattern random I put all the cut pieces in a bowl and pulled them out without looking when I wanted one.  It was fun to do it that way – I didn’t stress over which piece should go where.

Cut pieces in my bowl.

The addition of those two fabrics and the random placement of the half squares perked it up a lot. After all the pieces were on the wall I moved a couple of them around but didn’t mess with the layout much. I really just want it to be random and feel organic.

Layout with the extra fabric added. I like the way this looks so much more than the first one.

I played with different background colors and finally settled on Kona Chocolate. It seems like most of my quilts have had light backgrounds so this is different and something I’m excited about. My plan is to have chocolate strips between the print rows and then a wider strip on the top and bottom and no side borders. But that might change as I play with it.

I’m having fun letting this quilt take shape. Isn’t it cool how a quilt will “talk” to you sometimes and tell you exactly what it needs? 🙂  Hopefully I’ll be able to get the top done over the weekend.  Then I’ve got to buckle down and do some quilting on the tops that are finished!  Next in line is Walk Through the Garden, I’m still working on a different name for that one…..

Just for fun – Hubby and I picked produce from our garden last night and had a great dinner.  This is our first garden in YEARS and we’re acting like two little kids.  We get so excited everytime something ripens and we can bring it in to the house.  Silly, but hey, we’re having fun!! 🙂

YUM!

Have a fabulous Friday – I hope you get to do something you love!

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