okay, as promised, pix of the latest top. Sorry it isn't quite as clear as it looked on my phone. ={
The red and white quilt above isn't mine, but it's the one that inspired mine. I had been looking for a block to work with some batiks I had collected. Yeah it's sideways, but you get the, erm, picture.

Here's the layout of mine. I think I'll call it "Cacophony of Cups". Or Stanley. I haven't yet made up my mind. Yeah. It's pretty busy. It took a great deal of time and effort to lay out the block in such a way as to not have the same colors immediately next to one another, to develop some sort of rhythm and flow. I wanted to make sure that, since there are so many colors and patterns, that the eye feels comfortable moving from one place to another, that no one place is to dark or too light. That was quite a challenge. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to do one quite like this again. I really hated sewing in those angles. Well, hate's a strong word. Yeah, I'll stick with "challenge", on both a skill level (for me) and sanity level.
I worried a lot about this one. The Dresden was easy by comparison.

finally!

I started homeschooling my son on the 22nd and hadn't been able to get back to the batik top until last night! Anyway, I finished the top. Now I'm trying to figure out how to get the pix from my phone to the computer without first posting them to facebook. I don't know that all my fb friends are terribly interested in seeing them. On the other hand, I guess it couldn't hurt. I let them know about all the other stuff I'm up to.
I did have some trouble with it. I'm not sure if I simply wasn't keeping my seam allowances even or if my cutting was farkucht, but I managed to finagle my way into a complete quilt top. I also took some of the left over strips and sewed them together so I can make a carrier to go with the quilt.
As I was laying out my blocks, however, I kept thinking to myself, "What were you thinking? All these colors? The different batik patterns. Are you high? Should you be in order to appreciate this one?" I know that my favorite colors aren't everyone's cup of chai. I know not everyone will appreciate the cacophony of colors I put together. Do I like it? Yeah. I think I do. It's growing on me. And not in a fungal kind of way. My five year old son asked if he could have it. To be honest, I'm hoping someone will like it enough to purchase it. Especially since I'm going to make the carrier and beach/picnic season is coming up.
I guess, as far as the pix go, I'll just have to suck it up and post them in the round about way through fb, but that's not altogether a bad thing. Maybe my friends will follow them over here? I hope so!