For all the caution I took in cutting out the strips and triangles surrounding the center square of B4, I think the fabric contrast is too subtle for the amount of work I did. *sigh*

Blocks like B6 really make me question my sanity in attempting something like this quilt. Even though it is technically a 4-patch in a block on point, on point (with a border), the lattice strips add many pieces to the mix.

I watched alot of TV today. Simply Quilts was just over and I felt like postponing my work for another hour, but when I switched to Martha Stewart, I saw the World Trade Center disaster. Unbelievable. I couldn't turn it off because I was just numb. I sat for hours with the news and stitching D2.

I redrew D6, then had touble cutting it out because my mind was so fried from what was happening in New York and DC. None of my family and friends are nearby, but I just can't get over what it must have been like for the passengers on the airlines which departed from my city.

More bad news. Why can't I just turn it off? I think keeping my hands and head busy with this quilt is probably good. I started picking blocks with lots of pieces and they seem to be going much faster than I expect. Using my mom's William Morris print and finishing K3 doesn't seem to brighten things.

Of Debris and Smoke

The landscape of today has changed
Transmuted into something new and strange
The ordinary unrecognizable
We hover in between
The seconds of ago and to come
Smelling the dust of the past
And hearing only the stillness between
The inhalation and the sigh
--agl, 9/12/01

To keep my mind off the news, I looked for a really complicated block with lots of pieces. E7 is a modification of D2, pictured above. In Jane's quilt, there are many pieces. In Brenda's draft, not so many but it requires either applique or set-in seams.

E13 is a 4patch with a border, set on point and then on point again. The smaller triangles are appliqued to the outside triangles. I kid myself that my applique is getting better, at least for straight pieces. Even normal, everyday stuff seems weird now, I think.