Pickle Dish recipe

Excited as I was to FMQ the Franken-quilt, I had run out of any thread that would even approximate the colors I might need. Enter my dear husband, who was taking a trip into town. Meanwhile, back at the ranch (just an expression; what we have more approximates a hobby farm), I tried out the pickle dish recipe by Kaffe Fassett. Here is a quilt that somebody made following the exact recipe Kaffe lays out in his gorgeous book, Quilt Romance  (with just one substitution). They sell pre-cut kits at a shop called Tennessee Quilts:

Some pickle dish, eh? Normally, I would avoid something of such complexity. But my stepson's wedding is coming up in June, and I need to hone my skills for the double wedding ring quilt I want to make for the couple. (In fact, according to Barbara Brackman's criteria, the pattern above is a double wedding ring quilt; the traditional pickle dish pattern has spears.) Here is a another double wedding ring quilt in process, by Oregon quilter LuAnn Kessi:

So I set out to make a pickle-dish / wedding ring unit while I was waiting for my husband to return with the thread. It involved sewing on paper (note the place where I nearly sliced off part of my finger several years ago):

Ripping off paper:

 



And of course, cleaning up paper crumbles:

Despite how involved the process was, I did find some spontaneous pleasure.

Doesn't that look like a black-eyed Susan?

My takeaway lesson: Better get started on that wedding quilt now!