Seasonal Allergy Sufferers Look Away!

Ragweed is in the house!
That's what I call her anyway...my quilt for Denise for the Mini Quilt in a Bag Swap. You'll see why in a minute, really, I promise.


Denise sent me a Moda charm pack ( I think it was Fig and Plum?) to use for her quilt and I sent her one to use for mine. Which by the way, I'd love to show you because I know its going to be really amazing. Unfortunately the mailman is not cooperating this week and my package hasn't arrived yet. Darn it!

So Denise sent me this charm pack which of course was really pretty but, not colors I usually work with. Yep, that is why I do these swaps, to try things I wouldn't normally come up with on my own. And then, there was the oh holy cow, what am I going to do with this? Hey friend in Virginia, these are your kind of colors...what would you do?

Ideas were suggested, considered, chewed on and dare I say dreamed about. As my pal will not hesitate to tell you, every time I start one of these little projects there's a sketch, an inkling, a fair idea of where it will all end up. And for each of these projects, there is the moment when my friend will check out the pics she's finally pestered me into uploading to flickr and say, "I like it, but that looks nothing like what I thought you were going to do."

Yep, that's what friends are for.

And so, finally after all those inklings and dreams about colors and fabrics, we have ourselves a little Ragweed. Nowhere in the original plan was the sketch stitching that I tried for the first time, or the free motion quilting that I've finally figured out, or even that patchy border.

So, yeah, I think the whole swapping thing is working for me. Stretching what I'm comfortable making, leading me to try new techniques, meeting some really cool and talented people, and giving my friend something to make fun of me for. Because really without throwing her a bone like this once in a while, there really is nothing to pick on me about. Nothing. :)