My design wall is on my floor - no really, it is!

I have only been paid to make a quilt for someone once - way back when I was selling furniture I let a coworker hire me to make her 1st grandson a baby quilt. What a bad experience that turned out to be! Cotton, flannel, fleece, corduroy - you name it, she brought it to me - to use EACH of them so he'd have "texture" to feel in his quilt. Lesson learned = never quilt for hire again!!!

Well that was some 9 years ago... and only a handful of times has someone tried to commission me to make a quilt for them - the most recent when Nora was in the hospital with her "Happy Quilt" and the nurse wanted me to make her one for each of her 3 kids - and BEFORE Christmas at that! AAk!

Thankfully I was quick to tell her I don't quilt for others, it's all I can do to find some time for me at the end of the day to work on things I have started... and laughed and said I'm gonna have to live to be 114 to get everything I want to get done! How could I begin more I-spy quilts when I've yet to begin any for my twins???

But... you knew there was a but coming didn't you ..... but recently my very nice friend Ruby from church asked me for some help. She wanted to make a blue/yellow "French Country" quilt to give to her mother for Christmas. She and I met at my home one night while David took Nora to gymnastics and I helped her get her squares laid out on my design wall laid over my kitchen table.

Thanks to my friend Crazy'boutquilts - who emailed me a simple layout design of random blue and white blocks.. Ruby and I each held a handful of squares and began laying them out on my kitchen table and I ended up pinning them to the felt so that she could fold it up and take it home with her.

Well.. turns out my friend got very sick with a sinus infection and also she just wasn't' sure about those setting triangles - I admit they were once very intimidating to me also..until I tried it with the Christmas Lights Mystery then I realized it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought! After a couple weeks had passed Ruby & I talked on the phone and I'm not exactly sure how it happened but I agreed to take on her project for her - to piece it into a top.

After all it should not take me long - the pieces are large and it's a simple design..... but the timing stinks b/c I've yet to complete the binding on David's quilt (I know, SHAME on me!) and also I've got to finish up Nora's ornament gift project - and this is our final week before we leave on vacation.... laundry, packing, gift wrapping... and Wednesday of this week is the twin's Christmas party with Santa at the library and also Nora's teacher appreciation luncheon at her school... EEEEEk! Now I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed but it's my own fault so don't feel sorry for me.

So for now I have pushed everything BACK to the back burner - yep literally pushed the dining table back into the room - so that I can work on Ruby's quilt top and get it done and outta here... so then I can focus on my stuff.

Ta-Da! - see my design wall on my floor?? :P

and b/c it's for someone else and not me - I'm at a stand still... All the setting side triangles are cut and sew onto blue squares - ready to sew into rows... but I'm second guessing myself about the layout! URgh! If it were mine, I'd not think about it so much...

So, What do you think? I know it appears to have some missing squares - but Ruby requested that I include a few white pieces... I've looked and looked to make sure no two the same are touching... taking photos has helped. I'm hoping to get this together *WITH Borders* before I go to bed tonight so I can hand it off to her at school tomorrow!

In other news, here are the My Blue Heaven blocks I made for crazy'boutquilts to mail to her... I had planned to take them today but it's been raining cats and dogs all morning - so much that even David called me and said he'd go pick up Nora from school b/c he doesn't want me out driving in it. So they will leave Texas tomorrow Sandie. sorry.

.Love from Texas!