Friday, February 12, 2010

Another quilt project

Yes, yes I am STILL clearing a December-holiday-of-choice backlog.  Once I know the gift has gotten where it needs to go, I loose up the post; I don't want it posting before it gets there because it is still a surprise after all.

I have said before one of my brothers whittles.  & what he whittles most is mice with cheese & chess pieces.  It was just a matter of time before he started making mice-with-cheese chess pieces.  I understand he has completed one side of the board but cannot decide what to make for the other (the tree people against the modern building people was a no-brainer but this set presents challenges).

Flash forward to my drug of choice (cotton): I was cruising a quilt shop for no good reason.  I had a reason; I drove South to Many Horse Town because the local feed store had failed several times to either order, receive or retain the four bags of specialty feed I ordered for Becca for almost six weeks.  The distributor is only about 40-50 miles south & I finally went & picked it up myself.  The cost difference is enough to make the gas savings worthwhile & I took advantage of the trip to check out a quilt shop I almost never visit.  Like I said: no good reason.

& there was this fabric.  Of bright, colorful mice.  Bright colorful mice working their way through a bio-lab maze.  I had to have it.  I have not been this delighted since I found that hotdog fabric with the hotdogs wearing chefs hats & aprons, bar-b-q-ing hotdogs.  Anyway...

I made a chess board for K's mice.  I alternated the mice-in-a-maze fabric with black because I still do not know what the other side of this board might be.  I cut three 2.5"strips of mice-in-a-maze & three 2.5" strips of black swirls to make the four squares that became the strips of four squares (four strips of four sets of four squares for 64 squares), then one 4" strip of mice-in-a-maze & two 4" strips of black swirls for the borders.  First the mice on either side (be sure the row you are sewing starts with dark & ends with light) & then the other two sides in black.

It went together so easily & it occurs to me that even with garden-variety checkers it would make a cute gift.  I think I know what everyone is getting next year.

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