Pebble and Spark...and Where to Park?

 William has spent a lot of time in quilt shops with me.  He's pretty much The Best Husband Ever.  It's also easy to see he was an only child (for the most part) and was expected to entertain himself quietly on occasion.  While I'm browsing the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of fabric bolts, William always finds a nice comfy chair to relax in or bench to stretch out on - he'll flip through the coffee table book on dinosaurs, watch golf on his phone, or read current events for that day.

But sometimes, he can't help himself either.

Sometimes, I turn around and there he is, standing behind me with a "can we keep it?" raised eyebrow look on his face and a bolt of fabric in his arms.

And when the stray bolt of fabric he's holding is covered in gold and aqua Volkswagen buses, you can't say no.  You just can't.

 So on that particular day, we brought home a yard of buses with no idea what I would use them to make.  A quilt, of course, but what pattern?

A trip to Fancy Tiger Crafts in Denver resulted in yard of mustard "not all who wander are lost" material.  A quick stop at a fabric store in Cozad, Nebraska (population: the people who work at the fabric store and the gas station) found a pretty aqua floral.  Sunday afternoon cruising led us to Lyons Quilting (the home of the bus fabric) and a stash of honeycomb pretties.

After a bit, I had collected a great stash for William's bus quilt.  And I found The Pattern - Pebble and Spark.

The second time William's "lost puppy/fabric" scene was played out, we were at Fabricate in Boulder.    I was looking for binding fabric for William's quilt and William had joined me on the trip to Boulder primarily for the food.  I felt like I had checked out every bolt they had and couldn't find one that grabbed my attention.  Then I hear "Daisy?", turn around, and there it is in Will's hand.  The clouds over Boulder parted (heeey-o contact high), the light shown down and the angels sang.  The.  Perfect.  Fabric.

William got to visit a brewery on the way home that day.  The bearded man version of a gold star sticker.

I've found that the most time consuming part of creating a quilt is time necessary to work up the motivation to baste the dang thing.  The process of basting takes me maybe 45 minutes, but the process of talking myself into it takes a good two weeks.  Minimum.  And requires that I start at least two more quilt tops in that two weeks.

 Which is why I have a dining room table full of quilt tops and at least six works in progress (WIPs...learned that from my Instagram quilty friends who don't actually know they're my friends.  Awkward).

I've also learned that photographing the quilt after completion is just as important as making the quilt.  Lucky me - I happen to have a little interest in photography.  And I have a pretty sweet prop for a VW Bus quilt.  Boom.

So we took a trip in Clementine (I'll properly introduce you all sometime), drove aimlessly about until we found a decent mud-free spot to park and take some totally not staged photos.

The End.