BELIEVE THE DREAM

Earlier in the summer I decided to find a way to clear up some of my WIPs so I made a list and put the numbers in a jar.  Each time I asked my DH to pull one out for me.

In August he pulled a number from my WIP jar and it was to be completed that month. 
He pulled #8, which was a bunch of extra 9-Patch blocks that I had made for another project.  I had planned to use them for the backing of the first project and, then, I changed my mind.

I set them aside with the idea of making more blocks if necessary and to put them into another bed-size quilt.  The longer I looked at them the less I wanted to make that large quilt.

When I pulled them out after their number was drawn in August, I still was not inspired.

I tried several layouts and nothing was keeping my attention.  See my post at   http://frogpondstudio.blogspot.com/2012/08/wip-3-in-progress.html.

August was a very busy life month for us.  We had the Longest Yard Sale and my husband had his first hip replacement surgery.  This cut into my studio time and WIP #3 did not get finished so I carried it into September. 
I was still struggling with a layout.  I wanted something that was un-traditional with these traditional blocks. 

At first I put brown frames on the 9-Patches that were light in the corners and I put neutral frames on the blocks that had green in the corners.

This gave me an uneven number of blocks.  I tried the above layout and knew I would need more blocks.  This layout was predictable and not terribly interesting.

Here is another predictable layout.  Still not exciting.

So I tried these checkerboard squares and tried offsetting the rows.  Nope, not working!

Then I came upon a new layout.  I chose a lighter neutral fabric for the setting triangles to help "float" the interior pattern.  I also chose an asymmetrical arrangement of blocks.  It is not predictable; It is a little bit nontraditional; It is a bit modern.  I like it!

This time I used one fabric for the backing.  It has the word "Believe" on it.  I meander quilted it using an olive shade of thread, (Superior # 617), which blends well with so many fabrics.

    

Lil Bit helped me put on the binding.

She watched the needle very closely.  She didn't even mind when the quilt was piled on top of her.

Lil Bit and I are very happy with the finish of this WIP.  "Believe the Dream" has turned out to be a fun quilt after all.  We can snuggle under this to watch TV this winter.

                                            -sandi