Barbara's Better By the Dozen

Two years back, Bright Hopes Quilting had a BOM I signed up for in named Celebrations from the book, Better By the Dozen. You all know how BOMs work: you get a new pattern and preselected fabrics each month and by the end of the calendar year you SHOULD have assembled a pretty good-sized quilt. No excuses.

Well, I am an impatient stitcher and like to knock out each month as soon as I get my grubby paws on the kit. But the book had lots of inspiring designs made up with the 12 featured blocks. The layout was what made them all so different from each other.

There are 3 shops in Baton Rouge, where my daughter is enrolled in college at LSU and as we were getting her set up in the dorm that first year, post Katrina, I would pop into the shops to see what they had.

(Understand, BR is NOT that far from here, but going there to shop with frequency wasn't in my schedule in those years. I saved splurge-shopping for the GSQA seminar held there each spring. )

But now !!!! hrr hrrr hrrr hrrr! I had an excuse to just stop by for a few minutes and browse. And there I saw a gorgeous piece of fabric. No idea what I would make... but that's never an issue when I see something indescribably different. You just take it. Lots of it. Well ok, I take what I hopefully expect to see me through a quilt. In this case, I believe I walked out with 2 yards. Maybe 2.5.

And it sat on the shelf, taunting me.

Katrina did massive damage to St. Tammany Parish, where I live and a good friend was badly hit. They lost alot and what the storm didn't take , the contractors did. Things, furniture, time. You name it (and I hate to say, she wasn't an isolated incident.)

My friend loves all things italian and this fabric was decidely venetian and I hit on just what I'd make. Using Better by the Dozen as the springboard, I made this qulit for Babara:

I had bought just enough to squeak this out, adding batiks to give it that sparkle and fussy-cutting the focal fabric for all the squares. I think it came out swell (if I say so myself!)

Barbara likes it too! and the Supervisor approves.