I've designed this quilt on the wall, without a drawn pattern. No templates – I just cut pieces out by eye, with my scissors. I pinned all the pieces where I wanted them to go. So how do I take it down, manage the pieces, and get everything back where I want it?

I cut a piece of Quilter's Vinyl 16 1/2" x 16 1/2". I drew a 16" x 16" square and the horizontal and vertical center lines on the vinyl. I pinned the vinyl over the quilt on the wall.

I traced the design on the raw edges of the applique pieces. When I applique them, the pieces will be smaller as I turn under the seam allowances so it's a little different than our normal overlay. For placement, it works. I numbered the pieces. I took them off the wall in reverse order as I described in this post.

Here's another little bit of the quilt with the Quilter's Vinyl over it. If you click the photo it should open on a new page and be even bigger.

I cut out lots of flowers and leaves. I would love to show you the whole thing but I think that that is going to give too much away. Part of the World Series Quilt Challenge is a big unveiling of the quilts at Quilt Festival. But perhaps I'm not giving away too much by showing you this little bit. I'll share more little bits as time goes on.

Remember that this is a challenge and you can 'vote' for my quilt already! Right now John, Hollis, and I are even at $56 each.

As I worked on my World Series quilt, I got to thinking about the other seven quilters who are part of this challenge. They would be: Hollis Chatelain, John Flynn, Sue Nickels, Caryl Bryer Fallert, Judy Mathieson, Mary Sorenson, and Ricky Tims. I had to stop and take a deep breath!

I decided that the drawing I started with was a bit light on the applique. I made a new sketch…

Do any of you read Pam Holland's blog? Pam can draw and her sketches make me smile. They also make me feel like a slacker. I should fess up and say that I can draw – I just don't take the time to do it. If you don't make the time, your drawings look like this one of mine above. That said, my lousy sketch works for me because I know where I'm going with it. There will be lots more flowers!

Notice that the center has changed. I want it to appear to be more of a void. I'm reverse appliqueing the square-ish shapes to give it some depth.

…seen on Weird Friends. My husband did his masters work on snakes and I got comfortable with both snakes and lizards. I know some of you won't love this photo. Concentrate on the colors – they are really lovely together.

I decided that I would choose the applique fabrics for this quilt from my 3 little drawers of scraps – rather than carefully choosing the fabric from my stash. I began by sorting the various bits into their color families.

I've also decided to work without a 'real' pattern. I've got my preliminary sketch and the vision in my head. I'm cutting the pieces by hand, no templates, no lines on the fabric. I'll eye-ball the the seam allowances and finger-press it under as I go.

Why am I working this way? From a design standpoint, I'm trying to capture what it might be like to make this quilt if Alzheimer's was taking away my skills. But I'm also 'working without a net' because it is a real challenge and I enjoy a challenge.

"When I am empty of my memories – please pick them up and keep them safe
for me." This is the idea I am building my quilt on. I want it to feel empty in the center. Is empty dark or light? I started with off-white petals on the central flower. They disappeared into the background, which I expected but wasn't crazy about. For now, empty is dark – like a black hole. The flower center may go dark or stay light – it's going to depend on how the quilt builds around the center.

As I have spent time looking at the photo, I think I need to flatten out some of the curves on the dark petals, making them less flower-like…

Our church is in the process of putting together a new directory. The Lifetouch photographers set up shop in the parish center and we had our photos taken a few weeks ago. Surprisingly enough there were a couple of really good ones of us together, and of us each separately as well. (I say 'surprisingly' because we had very low expectations going into this. We almost wore jeans!)

I'm not usually a fan of posed photos, but I really like this one – in black and white. The color version was just OK. This is something I'm going to remember – just because a photo starts out in color doesn't mean it has to stay that way.