Zinnias in Little Plaid Baskets

When I saw this as a thumbnail in my photo program I thought, Oh, cheerful.  I think that's because of the yellow flowers.  These are unfinished, in-progress blocks.  The baskets need their flowers, the flowers need their stems, and the stems need their leaves.  Nothing has been stitched except the baskets.  Each basket block measures 10" x 12".

Before appliqueing these, I'll have to decide whether the baskets need two flowers or three, or whether some baskets will have two and some have three.

My idea for these baskets is to place them along the sides and bottom of a group of pieced blocks (that will more or less cover the center of the bed).  When the quilt is on a bed the baskets will be upright as they hang over the sides.  I'm thinking seven baskets along the sides and five across the bottom for a quilt that will measure approximately 74" x 82".  Since this is still in progress and the final layout is still uncertain, anything might happen.  Those center blocks? Maybe Old Italian blocks, or nine-patch blocks, economy, square-in-square, or ...?  I'll pull out some block pattern books and see what I think.  Colors for those center blocks?  I'm not sure yet. 

These are a few more zinnias. 

I bought this beautiful, soft, comfortable sheet some time ago at the second hand store.   From the photo you cannot tell that the color is pale peach and would work perfectly for the churn dash blocks.

But because the fabric is a very fine twill, I'm uncertain about using it as a back.  What do you think?  How might it quilt?  How durable might it be?  My guess is it's probably a bad idea but I thought maybe someone who reads this post might know. Thanks if you have a thought about it.

The last time I wrote about these baskets, in July, we'd had a fire in our stove.  This time, when my daughter got up for work on Monday morning she found that one of her cats had died.  Such sorrow.  And three days later we found a major plumbing leak in our basement.  Challenges have accompanied us through this year, one after the other.  I'm not sure what to think but I do ask myself what I need to learn. 

We have two ash trees in our yard.  This one stands in our front yard, its branches extending nearly as wide as our house.

When the sun is shining through the autumn branches it's dazzling.  The colors of autumn ash leaves can extend from golds to oranges to reds to burgundies, sometimes on the same tree at the same time; sometimes depending on the sun's rays from morning to afternoon; and sometimes from the beginning of fall to later in the fall. 

We still have lots of green which makes the bright trees stand out all the more.  Gorgeous autumn color!   I hope you're enjoying this season of beauty.

I'm linking this post to
> Finished (or not) Friday at Alycia Quilts
> Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More
> Oh Scrap! at Quilting is more fun than Housework
Thanks for hosting, ladies.

--Nancy.