I am making progress on my Kaffe Fassett Diagonal Madness Quilt. The center is sewn together and the 9 patches are ready to be sewed into borders: The Heather Ross hexagons are progressing steadily: And over the weekend I have had a chance to play with a new quilt top: These have been "maturing" in my stash for some time, now: a bit of Amy Butler, Ana Maria Horner and Heather Bailey. I have been looking for a pattern to showcase them, and considering at least three different options (two of them are patterns I have purcased). Back and forth and all over again. Do you sometimes think that your fabric is so pretty and precious that you hesitate cutting into it? I was feeling a bit paralyzed about these fabrics, and it was starting to annoy me a bit. Quilting is supposed to be fun, isn't it? I wanted to make something, and I decided to just do it. Design as you go. I made a sketch of a design and choose fabrics ranging from dark to light within my palette. First I cut 6" strips across the with of fabric. Then I divided the fabrics in two groups. The big patterned was subcut into 4.5" + 1.5". The other fabrics were cut into 2.5" + 2.5" + 1.0". I put the batting up on my wall and started playing. Next step i "randomly" cut the bold pattern strings into shorter pieces, then organized the strips into 4 groups on the batting. Playing with design and contrast. Playing with asymmetry. It was fun and liberating. After a bit of playing, I was happy with the layout. And had a lot of 2.5" strips left over... Well, thats a home made jelly roll to be used for my next design, right? Next day I started sewing the strips. Going with my first layout. Making a few adjustments. It felt good to go with my instincts.... Here is a little peek: Love the colors! Thinking about the next step of the design... Have a good week, and dream some quilty dreams, too!