(Written after driving in to work). It really does look like fall today, even if it's a bit too warm to feel like it. I suspect I may have to cancel lab for this afternoon; it's overcast and windy (I do not like driving 15 passenger vans in high wind and perhaps that's a good enough reason to reschedule for next week).

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I mentioned I ran errands yesterday. I delivered the two latest quilt tops to be quilted.

And I found something that will probably bump the Sock Monkey fabric quilt out of its place in the queue. I had a small fat-quarter packet of violet-print fabrics I got for my birthday a year or two ago (there are six fat quarters in the packet) and I pulled the fabrics out from the monster pile of fabric in my storage room, pressed them off, and realized I wanted to make something with them.

Specifically, I thought they'd be well-suited to a Houndstooth quilt (you will need to scroll down).

Only, I had not "solid" fabric for the background that worked.

Well, the quilt shop had some - a nice stippled gray-green that coordinates well with all the other colors. And since I didn't have the packet with me, and couldn't decide, I also bought an equally big piece in a dark purple stipple that also coordinates, but I think the green will win the place of honor as the background fabric. The purple stipple can be the outer border.

The only drawback is that the quilt technically calls for a 4" bias ruler to help cut the houndstooth shapes from pieced strips. I suppose I can improvise something, but I might pop down to the local quilt place in the next day or two just to see if they have 4" square bias rulers, and if they do, how expensive they are.

(Though, to paraphrase Thoreau, I tend to be suspicious of enterprises that require new tools.)

Still, I'm excited to make the quilt top.

It's funny...I haven't been so excited by quilting for a long time, and all of a sudden I have stacks and stacks of fabric I want to start working on. I suppose part of it is the fun of seeing the stash shrink a little bit, and the fun of having fabrics I bought because I "loved" them, that then got buried, now seeing the light of day again and actually being put in a form where I can look at them.

Oh, and on the Bento Box quilt top....still not convinced I'm going to keep it. Something about it seems to tell me it wants to be "free" - that there is a kid somewhere who will be going through rough times who might benefit from it. I'm still seriously thinking, when it's quilted and once I bind it, of giving it to Project Linus. They accept quilts, as well as knit and crocheted blankets - as long as they are washable.

So that might be my big "Christmas generous" thing for this year. (I don't expect to get it back before early December; as always the quilting lady is fairly busy).

Anyone have experience with this charity? I don't know of a chapter in my area but I could either send it through the mail or surely there has to be a drop off point SOMEWHERE in North Texas or Southern Oklahoma.

(Edited to add: apparently both of the McKinney quilt shops are drop-off points for the North Texas chapter. So that's a possibility if no other opportunity arises: once I get the quilt back and bound, I could carry it with me on the next stash-enhancing expedition. Actually, the initial fabrics came from Quilt Asylum so there would be sort of an interesting "circle of life" to dropping the quilt off there...)