You Don't Know Jack...and Remembering Jack about 2013

It's weeks since I've been able to write a blog post. One would hope it was because I was extending my pledged two hours a day for DAGMT into six or seven hours, but unfortunately the truth is that February is like to destroy my will to live this year.

Well, okay, maybe I'm being slightly dramatic. I live in a house with three girls; drama is life around here. And between snow days and the evil-est of all weeks of the year, February Break, those three girls and I have spent much of the last three weeks together and while we have hours on end of fun wowza does that mess with my productive little 9-3 schedule. At the same time, please note that Mr QH has entered his yearly phase where he must have me GET THE TAXES DONE AND TO THE ACCOUNTANT YESTERDAY AND DID YOU GET THEM DONE TODAY DIDYOUDIDYOUDIDYOU? and any work time I can squeeze out of a packed day of nonstop fun has been spent rolling fully clothed in receipts rather than naked in the stash.

Sing it, sister.

Which totally sucks.

But is not without its entertaining memories of the year that was 2013. It's always fantastic to relive, through the joy of the tallying of mileage, all the days I spent on the road with guilds, trying to convince them to throw away their seam rippers and/or make some quilts with some friends.

Still love these Sunflower and Sky ladies!

And reliving the fun of certain fabric purchases when I get to their receipts.

Wish I could say this planned project had actually been started by now.

And even finding all the good in the pile of receipts that represent what often feels like every profit I ever made to attend Spring Market, because I got to meet Kelli finally.

And also some chick named Tula.

 And remembering why I drove 152 miles to help at a show in Maine, because I got to meet this woman, who stood in front of me and proclaimed me brilliant and went off for 10 minutes about how Kickin' Stash is her favorite pattern ever.

Obviously I love her.

Eventually DIDYOUDIDYOUDIDYOU will be answered with OMGOMGOMG...YESIDIDENOUGHALREADY!, and it will be back to being able to sew at will, minus the needs of various family members. Until then, I must be satisfied with a little bit of progress on the 2014 group quilt pattern in the form of the twin and baby sizes both sewn together. Woo hoo!

Not that I am going to show you what the layouts look like, but here they are, lying side by side all crumpled up for you.

 And I've chosen the blocks I'll be putting together for the queen sized version.

In a shocking turn of events, I chose to use the greens, teals, and purples from the blocks sent to me.

As of this moment, the pattern is still nameless, although I have gotten some good suggestions, mostly centering around the idea that the block resembles a jack. My personal favorite was suggested by a participant in the block swap: "You Don't Know Jack." However, as much as I enjoy that title, it may be a little too crass for some fainter hearts, and with the memory of  Accidental The Word For a Male Part Machine Quilting-gate firmly in mind, I am still contemplating my options.

In putting these blocks together in a fairly modern setting (A clue! A clue!), I'm also contemplating a big question for me, that being "To Border, or Not To Border." I'm normally a big fan of borders, and I think I do a fairly good job of designing borders to compliment my quilts, but this one is kind of telling me to leave off the borders.

So what do you think? Is a quilt not a quilt until a border maketh it so? Is a border the quilting equivalent of a mullet when it comes to dating a design? I'd love to hear your opinions, but don't think I'll show you more of it just to give you more to go on!