Note To Self: There Are No Magical Border Elves Who Finish Quilts While You Are Sleeping

Oh my gosh, y'all -- I would so much rather be making blocks for a new quilt rather than putting seven borders on this WIP (Work In Progress) project that I've been puttering around with for the past six(!) years!  When I came up with this bright idea of Mork's rainbow suspenders for a quilt border, I was only thinking about how cool it would look and not thinking at all about actually having to go to all of this bother at the tail end of the project when I just want to be DONE with it already!  I procrastinated cutting the border strips after I cut the black inner border a couple months ago -- swiftly remembering how much I hate cutting long lengthwise strips for a big bed quilt.  Well, I finally cut them all and have been piecing them together and attaching them to my Retro '80s Building Blocks sampler.  This is where I left off last night, with only the final purple border strips waiting to be attached:

Only One More Border to Go!

First, I'd joined the Kona Lipstick and Kona Black borders together, pressing the seam allowance towards the black on the top and bottom strips and towards the red on the left and right side strips.  That way, the seams nested and locked together nicely when I mitered the red+black border corners.

Trying to Keep Organized...

Then the next four colors were strip pieced together to apply as a single border: Kona Tangerine, Kona Grellow, Kona Peridot, and Kona Ocean.  

The "Vacation" Update: Why Rebecca and Bernie Have Sore Muscles and Bare Windows Instead of Suntans

Hello and Happy Shiny New Month of May to all of you!  I have so much to share after taking three weeks off; I don't even know where to begin.  (If you only follow me for the quilting eye candy, you may want to skip this one.  It's okay if you do -- I will still love you!)

I didn't actually go anywhere exciting; my husband and I just needed that chunk of time to kick off some long overdue interior updates before the boys came home from college.

Casualties of My Changing Taste: These Custom Draperies Had to Go

When I decorated this house fifteen years ago, that "Tuscan Villa" look was all the rage and I have been living in a sea of mustard gold, brown, terra cotta, and Merlot ever since.  And, full disclosure here, it was not just the walls -- I had the ceilings painted a 50% tint of the wall color in most rooms as well.  I have been ready for a change for a long time, but it's so overwhelming to start over when everything is connected to everything else like Dominoes and one small change can quickly lead to changing everything...  

Crayola May Not Make a Color for Your Eyes... But Sherwin Williams Does!

When my kids were younger, we used to listen to the Kids' Place Live channel on Sirius XM in the car.  There was this one song by Kristen Andreassen that I loved, "Crayola Doesn't Make a Color for Your Eyes" and maybe that planted a seed deep in my brain that finally sprouted yesterday, when I decided to take close up photos of all of my family members' eyeballs and use the Sherwin Williams Color Snap app on my iPhone to determine once and for all just EXACTLY what color my kids' eyes are. 

Anders' Eye Color: SW6223 Still Water

How cool is that?!  As you can see, you can tap anywhere in the photo to get a whole palette of colors, each with its corresponding Sherwin Williams paint number. 

Lars's Eye Color: SW6216 Jasper

It was interesting to see that my son Lars, whose eyes look chocolately brown overall, actually has a lot of green in his eye color as well.

My Eye Color: SW 6181 Secret Garden

I was surprised to see that my own eyes, which are a yellow-brown hazel, actually have a lot of green in them as well.

Bernie's Eye Color: SW 0016 Billiard Green

Even my blue-eyed husband Bernie's eye color matched up as predominantly green, although he doesn't have any of the amber yellow coloration that Lars, Anders and I all have.

Rebecca's Mom's Eye Color: SW 6488 Grand Canal

Then I had to do my mom's eyes, which are the most beautifully vivid turquoise blue that I have ever seen.  No real surprises there, but isn't it fascinating to sort out all the different colors?  Now you have to listen to the song:

You're probably asking yourselves, "So what?"  Well, I suppose I could now paint a room to match the color of my mom's eyes, or one of my children's eyes.  That's what Sherwin Williams is hoping we do with their app.  You can see how it works to suggest paint colors to go with fabrics or carpets:

Colors from my Dining Room Carpet

Here's what the app came up with for color matches from my dining room carpet (above) and my master bedroom drapery panels (below):

Colors from Master Bedroom Drapery Panel

Not only could I use this tool to help me find paint colors, but I could also use it to find coordinating fabrics for upholstery, accessories, or whatever.  And here's the quilting application: Those dots of color are just like the color dots on the selvages of print fabrics that isolate all of the colors used in the print, very helpful for matching up coordinating fabrics in the quilt shop.  You could use the Sherwin Williams Color Snap app to create a palette of colors for a new quilt that you want to use in an existing room in your home, or snap a picture of the colors in your friend or relative's home on the sly and use it to create a quilt that coordinates beautifully with that person's personal style.  You can also use the app to create a color palette for a quilt based on a favorite photo from your travels or anything, really.  I have a Pinterest folder where I collect color inspiration photos, and here's what the Color Snap app pulled from a few of those photos:

Pretty cool, isn't it?  You can delete the colors you don't want from the palette by touching the color to select it and then touching the little trash can icon.  You can add colors to the palette by touching anywhere on the photo to select that color.  It works with pictures you take yourself with your phone, or on pictures you have downloaded from the Internet or elsewhere. 

Or you can just weird everyone out by insisting on taking close up photos of their eyeballs.