It's Raining, It's Pouring, The Dogs Are All Snoring

It's pouring rain today, but I'm not complaining.  I spent the morning in my studio playing with the chopped up nine patch quilt.  It's turning into one big experiment.  I dreaded the thought of piecing it together, sewing the two halves of each block together, and then sewing the blocks themselves together.  BORING!  Plus the piece would have ended up so much smaller, too small I think.

So fusible web to the rescue!  I fused the blocks down to black batting, side by side.  So I pieced the quilt without sewing and without seam allowances.  So what to do next?  I feel like it's asking for more than just simple quilting.  So I pulled out some yarns and tried them out.

The yarn didn't do anything for me.  On to the next idea.  I found this yardage tucked away and loved the oversized leaf pattern.
So I decided to use it for the back of the quilt and do the machine quilting from the back, outlining the leaves.  I stitched around one leaf, but it didn't show up very well.  On to the next idea.  

This piece may be ready to be chopped up again before I'm done with it unless another good idea comes to me.  Actually, there is something I could try....I'll keep you posted.

The mail just came and I got a quilt magazine!  And no, I didn't cheat on my pledge not to buy!  As far as magazines go, if I'd already subscribed to a magazine before my pledge started, then no problem.  I'm allowed to enjoy them.  But I'm not subscribing to any new ones now, or buying any at the store.  Today I got Quiltmania, a French magazine I subscribed to last spring.  It fun to see quilts made across the pond.  I think I'll spend the afternoon curled up on the couch with Mickey and the magazine.

Speaking of our little Mickey Blue Eyes, today is his 1st birthday.  I found an old bone which was his gift.  He was thrilled!  Here he is enjoying it.

Yes, rainy days can be very nice!