HST

Way back when, or in January, I started making a quilt for a friend. It was a long time coming and I finally settled on the fabric -- lots of Modern Meadow -- and semi-decided on a pattern. Which is to say I decided to make a lot of HSTs -- half-square triangles -- and then see where that led me. At first I thought I might make a little something like this and then I changed my mind, considering a modified pinwheel along the lines of this. Even as I started sewing, none of them quite felt right. Which ultimately led me to some big flying geese:

I can't pretend me method was precise, frugal, or smart. It was ad-hoc, a tad wasteful, and not-so brilliant. See those extra white flaps on the bottom? Yeah, I just trimmed those off. Because sometimes simple solutions are the best way to cover mistakes uncertainty. Once I got to this point, however, I became decisive. I knew what I was doing and how I was going to do it.

So I did it, at which point I discovered that Denyse Schmidt has a pattern that bears a distinct resemblance to my {clearly brilliant} quilt design. I'm going with great minds think alike, because why else would Denyse Schmidt make a pattern for the quilt that existed in my mind? I mean, her pattern probably uses more logic than my process, but it probably involves a lot more steps and templates and planning and numbers and yardage and whatnot than my, shall we say, intuitive sewing. And I'd show you the whole quilt, but I made the mistake of giving it to my friend and failing to take pictures of the whole front and whole back.

I thought about picture-taking. I thought about it when I plucked it from the dryer and placed it in my backpack. I thought about it when I gave it to Joel. I thought about several nights later when we were both packing again. I thought about it on the plane, after we got on different flights. And I thought about this afternoon as I sat in the Harry S. Truman archives, when I typed in my kickin' wireless login that begins with HST, which makes me smile and reminded me to post. So I will wait, with as much patience as I can muster, until Joel returns from his work trip to Asia and snaps some photos for me.

In the meantime, I'm crossing my fingers that I finish my work quickly enough to sneak in a little trip to the Quilt Shoppe in Stewartsville before I drive back to Michigan.