Homespun plaids

are really something I should like better than I do. Since I love primitive quilts you would think they would really appeal to me. And I like them when other people use them. But when I do, something just doesn't click. I was having some difficulty deciding what to do next so I pulled out a Kim Diehl book and started in on my homespun stash. I do have to say that it is much improved as the blocks go together. In fact I might just end up liking this quilt. I have a couple more rows to add on and then it will be time to decide on the border. And to decide if I will add the applique to the border. I thought I had some flowers and leaves already cut out that I didn't use on another quilt (notice a pattern here?) but I have looked everywhere and cannot find them. I just know I put them "in" something. Well, I have looked "in" everything and not found them. Once I put something "in" something when we were moving and found it 7 years later! So probably there will be no applique on the border.

I did finish a little top from a Fig Tree book. I had a stack of fabric that looked really nice together I thought. Until I put the plain blocks between the houses. Then I did not like it together at all.

Oops, pictures out of order so we will have a slight digression. Have you ever made 9 patch blocks this way? I just love it as I never would get the right lengths of strips to get enough of the right combinations of light and dark

for the 3 strip wide pieces. I was always ending up with too much of the two dark with light in the middle and never enough of the two light with dak in the middle. This way you just do a two piece strip of one dark and one light and make an extra corner. I don't remember where I saw it but it is my go to method now.

For some reason blogger will not let me type in between those two pics. Well, the reason is probably that it has been just one of those weeks with nothing going the way it is supposed to. Anyway, I decided to try out the green silly string fabric between the blocks and liked it much better. And I really like the little checkerboard border. So this stack of fabrics with only one slight substitution really made a nice top I think. Of course I am partial to houses.

Usually I do not like the House of White Birches books. I am not quite sure why but there you have it. I went to a guild meeting last month and they were selling lots of old magazines for a quarter a piece. I bought a few called "Quilters World" because I had not seen them before. When I was looking through them when I got home I realized why -- they are from House of White Birches. Anyway, one of them had a quilt I liked with pretty large blocks so I pulled out another stack and started in on it. I love this Christmas tree print. I did not exactly follow the directions and I could not decide on a border.

So it has remained borderless. It was fun to put together. Mr THQ doesn't like the acid green very much. I am not so sure myself! I wish it looked as good as it was fun to sew!

There was a question in comments -- yay, I got some comments -- about the circle quilt on my last post. No, I did not use the WonderArc. I do not even know what that is. I traced circles around round things that were in my house and then cut them out. If you were to look really closely you would see that they are not exactly round. But with the dots and blanket stitching no one will ever know. At least that's the way I look at it. Others only see the flaws you point out, right, so keep your mouth shut and no one will see what looks like the biggest boo boo on the face of the earth. I am right about that, aren't I?