I Sleep with a Quilt and a Gun

While at retreat, I finished a quilt top for a friends baby. I still need to sandwich it together, quilt it, and bind it; so it really isn't done yet. I wanted to make sure that it would be O.K. to give to a girl or a boy. I hope that I made that happen. I have always wanted to do a plaid churn dash, so here was my chance. I ran to my nearest friendly neighborhood thrift store and bought up an arm full of men's button down cotton plaid shirts. Then I started cutting away. I liked it so much when I got the top done, that I decided that I am going to make a replica for myself; except with appliqued plaid flowers around in the brown area. Working with men's dress shirts is kind of like working with batiks. They have a tighter weave and a crisp feel to them. The thing that I love the most about them is that you cannot find these in a quilt store. I don't have anything against quilt stores (of course!), but it is sometimes a little bit of a downer when you see that the lady that sits up front at all of the guild meetings is now showing off an award winning quilt starring the same exact Moda currently in your quilt that has not even seen the quilting frame yet. All right, this never happened to me...but I wake in cold sweats all of the time worrying that someone out there is stealing my Hoffman idea right out of my sleep. Really, what am I worried about anyway? It isn't like the sweet ol' quilter down the way is now parked in my driveway with binoculars trying to get a glimpse of my quilt. I think that I would have to win a ribbon or two before I get all hoity-toity with my 'rare' churn dash design. Maybe a double-knit polyester Baltimore album quilt would be the way the go...you gotta admit it...who the hell else would take on such a moronic, foolish, and pointless endeavor?