Are You Ready For Your Audition?

Have you been watching The Voice? This is the first year I've watched it, and I'm enjoying it so far--much better than American Idol the first couple years when I watched that show. For tonight's performances, I thought the gal who did Sting's Roxanne and the guy who did Lenny Kravitz's Are You Going to go my Way just killed it. If you watched, what did you think? One of the reasons I mention the show show is because Soccer Son's Lovely Wife to be Someday told us yesterday that several people recently told Soccer Son he looks like Adam Levine, which is kind of interesting. I never thought about it before, but now I can see a bit of a resemblance. Too bad Soccer Son doesn't have Levine's bank account along with a strong desire to support his mom. He also doesn't have the tattoos.

About the Thimbleberries swap block quilt top I've been working on, many of you commented about how much you liked the look of the blocks and asked what they are. Pat Sloan designed a quilt she named Blueberry Cobbler--if you click on the name, it will take you to a photo of her quilt pattern. The fabrics look much like the tones of the Thimbleberries fabrics, so when our online group wanted to swap blocks several years ago, someone thought the traditional block used by Pat Sloan, known as Anvil, would make a good block, so we found one of the free online block patterns and picked two colorways to use--blue and gold and red and gold. You can find one of the pattern sources HERE. Or HERE. You can also make the block smaller by adjusting the size of the components--we made our blocks finish at 8".

Miss Jean commented and asked that I show you the different border fabric I audition, so I thought I'd try out a couple possibilities--the border fabric will help me decide what to add as a third color if I decide to go that route when I determine what kind of sashings I want to use. So here are three possibilities:

This first print is a little small, but the four-patch blocks measure 16", so almost any pattern is going to look small. This print has both blue and green in it, so I'd have more third color options, and the print isn't seasonal.

I like this print but I tried to use it as a border in another quilt and the pattern looked too repetitive--I'd forgotten about that until I put it up on the wall. Do you agree?

This print concedes that any red and green quilt is going to end up being a Christmas quilt. This is an old Thimbleberries print, and I think I might like it best so far. It is also repetitive but for some reason, it doesn't bug me like the second one does.

What are your thoughts on these border options?

I tried to get my audience's opinion on another fabric matter, but he was feeling much too lazy to be of any real help.

I pulled out the pattern for this month's Schnibbles and looked through my charm packs. I thought It's a Hoot by MoMo would be fun, but what to use as a background fabric? When I auditioned the whites in my stash, nothing seemed quite right. Eventually I pulled out a BasicGrey grunge fabric that I like--a lot!--but I wonder if the other colors would just melt into it? Should I hold out and check the quilt shop for a suitable white fabric when I'm there on Wednesday?

Comments?