what next?!?

searching the www (does that date me?!?) for just the right linen calendar tea towels for medallion quilts was fun except for the loss of dozens of hours of sleep whilst entering just one more key phrase... 

and when i found this one...

1986 - it was a VERY good year ... not really ... but i DID get to meet Auntia for the first time In This Life and that has proven to be an INTERESTING experience

i was really, really excited cuz it was not only the right year, but the right EVERYTHING for Auntia - she lurves plaid and she lurves scottie dogs and she lurves red and black and green ... i thought it was gonna be a slam dunk ... till it arrived and i realized that planning a largish (Auntia said she wanted a table runner - but i scoffed that away with a loud, "pish on that!!!") quilt around a too long (26"), too narrow (8"), little bitty center was gonna be a problem for me ... let's face it, i'm not all that inspired ... after waiting months and months and months for inspiration, i finally decided to just start making some blocks that i hoped might knew would find a place somewhere...

i knew i wanted to incorporate bigger scottie dogs with plaid bows... 

 paper-pieced scottie dogs ... not much fun to piece, lemmetellya

and that those dogs would need some balls to chase...

snowball blocks - also paper-pieced ... i was gonna use the flipped corner method and let the balls bounce where they may, but Auntia thought that i oughta make them the hard right way

and then i took a few deep breaths and trimmed away the edges of the towel, added some cream-on-cream borders and came up with this...

hmmmmm...

and found myself asking for the umpteenth time what next?!?

i said it out loud... 

and often... 

till Auntia said something about more plaid did i mention that she lurves plaid? and i added this...

 is THAT enough plaid?!?

the flimsy was getting too big for me to take a picture of all of it... 

Auntia to the rescue...

she was saying TA DA!!! 

and i was saying GET OFF OF THAT CHAIR!!! YOU ARE GONNA BREAK YOUR NECK!!!

never a dull moment around here... 

right... 

i thought i had a plan for the outer (and FINAL) border ... plaid bow tie blocks with black backgrounds ... so i made a practice block, but it looked too icky to even bother taking a picture ... and then i thought that a red ribbon/black background border with bow blocks in the corners would look kinda cool ... i found a paper-pieced bow pattern and made a practice bow with scraps...

It's not about what it is. It's about what it can become.

Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

and thought that i had a winner ... till i showed it to Auntia, explaining that it was just a practice bow and the REAL bows would be red with black...

know what she said?!?

it ... uhm ... it looks like the Lorax

 now i can't look at a bow block without seeing the Lorax...

and here i sit, waiting again for inspiration...

what next?!?

i guess i could go searching for more linen calendar tea towels...

uhm ... no!!!

“But now," says the Once-ler, "now that you're here, the word of the Lorax seems perfectly clear. UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.” 
Dr. Seuss, The Lorax