In the deep midwinter

Living in Michigan, that fact that it's cold in January should come as no surprise. In this drafty old barn of a house, wind chill has a whole new meaning. Working in the studio, with windows on all four walls, has been nearly impossible. My little fireplace/furnace has been struggling to bring the temperature over fifty degrees!

Instead, I've been camping out in the living room. It's at the opposite end of the house, on the lee side, making it possible to actually take the chill off. I've filled my days with knitting and spinning, and binges of British TV dramas. I've just finished the last season of Doc Martin and I'd really like to smack Louisa on the back of the head.

It's been gray, heavy skies filled with snow. On the one hand, I've always liked that hunkered down feeling that comes with typical winter weather. On the other hand, I am desperate for color.

And then this fabric showed up in the mail. The print fabric is the focus of this year's Pilgrim & Roy Challenge, a fund raiser for the quilt museum in Paducah, KY. A dozen quilters are invited to work with this crazy fabric, to create a quilt that will be auctioned off during Quilt Week for AQS.

The envelope sat unopened on my cutting table for several days, until my BFF (Karen Boutte), who is also taking part in the challenge, asked me what I thought of this year's fabric. I got the impression that she wasn't keen on what we had to work with.

What spilled out of the envelope was this bright, colorful, joyful fabric! I immediately decided to go whimsical, and pawed through my stash of polka dots. What's happier than polka dots? I'm still kicking around the design, but you know it will include applique. What do you think?