Still Loving Anna Williams

Woohoo, I'm back in the groove and sewing again. It feels wonderful to finally have my brain clicking again. This is my Love Anna Williams quilt so far. This is generally how I think the blocks will be arranged.

Here's a close-up of a block:

This block was inspired by the one Anna Williams used in her quilt "Many Windows" (the link takes you to my blog post from when I first started the blocks, not so many blog posts back since I've been such a bad blogger. A photo of Anna's quilt appears in one of the photos. I've spent well over an hour looking for that specific Anna Williams quilt online, to no avail.)

Her blocks have more "borders" than this. Each rectangle is surrounded by log cabinesque strips, then a frame of the piano keys, a border of strips, then more piano keys. All very improvisational so that each looks different and some are missing some of those layers. Very fabulous.

Right now I really love how my blocks look. I'm almost afraid of adding more and more and more - will it get too busy? (I know, I know, for some of you this is already too busy. I mean "too busy for me.")

I have to decide how big I want this quilt to get. I'm planning on handquilting it and eventually it will hang on a wall so the maximum size is 72" square (that's a size that works well for me). But eek, that's big. So closer to 50" would make me happier.

I really love the odd number of blocks but it would make things easier if I "lost" one of them and just used twelve.

In the past I've made quilts a certain size, opting for the easiest path and ignoring what the quilt is trying to tell me about what it wants to be when it grows up. And then I'm not happy with the results cuz it's not all that great (or even good) of a quilt.

I don't have to make any decisions yet. I need to make more stinking piano keys - I'll need lots more of them for auditions. I know that any leftovers will easily go into a fun quilt, I'm just not thrilled about this stage.

In a couple of quick tv notes, anyone else see "Brown Betty" - the most recent episode of "Fringe?" I loved it. Walter tells a story and the visuals are just amazing. A mix of film noir detective and tech. (I'd call it "steampunk" except that seems to be limited to Victorian times.) I loved it. Somebody make a series like this (although it will undoubtedly get cancelled too soon, just like my beloved "Pushing Daisies.")

Besides how wonderful it looked, I got really emotionally involved with the story. Definitely one of Fringe's best episodes ever. I could have done without the singing bits of the show, except for Story Walter's chorus in his lab - loved them.

Oh and "Chuck" - it's fabulous. I wasn't thrilled with the season at the beginning and didn't like Chuck's new abilities, but it finally got it's groove together (esp after losing the horrible wooden Shaw). Loved the Honeymooners episode. Why not have a great couple? Chuck and Sarah (The Charlesesses) can be to spies what Nick and Nora Charles were to sleuths. I am sooo thrilled to have a show that doesn't stick with the "will they/won't they" until I am long past caring.

Gotta go sew now. Take care.