Juju Loves Polka Dots

Rattlesnake Charm

I want my children to have all the things I couldn't afford.
Then I want to move in with them.
Phyllis Diller

Back to the Rattlesnake Charm quilt. I'm still sewing those blocks. I guess I will be for a few weeks,eh? I try to get at least one block done every day. It's already getting a bit boring.
I can see why Jan wished me good luck with finishing it after I had quickly sewn together a quarter of it. The last three quarters aren't as exciting, are they?
So I've mocked it up in full and have been playing with border possibilities in Photoshop.
I'm favouring this one with a Kaffe Fassett ikat stripe border at the moment.

I was considering piecing or appliqueing a border, but when I tried some ideas out I thought it looked better to have one fabric in the borders to give all the piecing some unity.

What do you think? Here is an example with extended pieced sides.

I think more ideas will come over the next few weeks. Any suggestions?

I've booked it in to be long-arm quilted in 8 weeks time. I prefer the look of hand quilting but worry that I might get bored on such a large quilt. I will try hand quilting with my next (smaller) project. Any suggestions on the quilting design?

Today's Inspiration: Piece O'Cake appliques.They are quite charming in a new-vintage way.

Likes: All the kind bloggers who have left  supportive comments over the last few posts.

Dislikes: Where do I begin? How about bullying people with a social disadvantage on TV?

I love my blog readers

Buying the right computer and getting it to work properly is no more complicated than building a nuclear reactor from wristwatch parts in a darkened room using only your teeth.
Dave Barry

Thanks for all the great comments you guys left. I have complete confidence in my quilt now and you've given me many interesting ideas.

I like that Old Round said the new quilt makes my old one look insipid.

I got lots of comments that the border can make a huge difference and I realized I can have something quite different going on in the borders. Moving Hands has got me all excited about borders with her fantastic flickr photos of the Japanese Quilt festival, like this one:

Lots of people have let me know they have made or considered making the Rattlesnake pattern. Please show me pictures if you have any.

Thanks for all the condolences over sick-kid-shut-in-life-style. When will I ever get to leave my home? Maybe later this week. Quinte has a chest infection and is now on anti-biotics. He's never had any medicine before. I'm so missing my morning coffee with my friends.

I loved Shelly Noble's imaginative redecoration of my bedroom. Please come over and execute that Shelly.

And thanks to Molly Jean for telling me about quilt size that, "it's not the part on top of you that keeps you warm but the part that hangs off the bed!" When I think about it that makes perfect sense. I'm going to be sure my quilt is wide enough to keep me warm.

I'm so glad to have the blog world!

Any suggestions on the quilting? Should I send it out to get it long arm quilted? Stitch in the ditch? Hand-quilt the borders? I don't think my sewing machine would like to quilt it and neither would I like to use my machine in this way.

I have been tagged on the name five weird things about yourself question. I will respond to that tomorrow. I'm afraid my answer is a little complicated and will break two blog rules I set myself. Firstly it will be an entry with not many pictures and lots of words. Secondly, I will reveal an area of my private life that I hadn't planned on talking about on my blog. I think. I'm still trying to decide.

Today's Inspiration: Applique. After seeing the quilts in the Japanese Festival and  Be*mused's applique, I've been reminded of the charming things that can be done this way.

Likes: Susan McCord. Wasn't she an amazing quilter! Her vines were divine.

Dislikes: I'm tiding my studio. I'm at the part where everything is out and it's a huge mess and it looks like I should just set fire to it all and be done with it. What have I got myself into?