The Coffee & Brown Sugar Quilt

Hello Shrinking Quilters!
I put my fabric in the mail today so go get yourself a big glass of water and get ready to start a new quilt with me~
Here's the situation...

I have an addiction to coffee.  Since the pregnancy (and now I'm still nursing) it's been 2-3 cups a day of decaf.  before that it was 4 cups to the whole pot of regular.  But it's not just the coffee.  For me, coffee is a vehicle for the cream and sugar.  In the past year there have been times that I've gone through a pound of brown sugar in a week, in my coffees alone.  (yeah, i bake too, but we'll save the brownie addiction for another quilt).

the thicker, the creamier the better.  bigger mugs give more pleasure-- my go-to mug at home is blue glass and holds about 16 ozs.  For this weight loss quilting bee (all of 2010?) I have decided to give up coffee and pour it all into a quilt instead.

Here's what we're making:

(I did this work up in EQ5, I haven't upgraded my software-- spent the $ on fabric instead.  So the fabrics will be different, of course, this is just to give you the general idea..)

I sent out a selection of beige, cream, and/or brown fabrics with a smaller piece of a deep turquoisey blue.  Please make one 9 x 9" finished (9.5" unfinished) block of your choice.  Any traditional or slightly wonky (think maverick stars) pieced or appliqued block is fine, but please chose something that works on point (i.e. don't applique your scene without rotating the foundation first!) Please use the blue in or towards the center, if possible.  The blocks in my EQ5 version are just examples, I can't even say they're blocks I like, I just needed something to fill the space for the preview quilt.  You do not have to chose one of those!  I'll make double nine-patch setting blocks.  When finished, the quilt will go in my family room.

Since this is the first quilt in our bee, use it as an opportunity to share a part of your personality with the group.  If you need more direction, below are a few quilt blocks that I like, but you are not limited to these examples at all!

I like Baltimore Album blocks and Hawaiian applique..but piecing is great too:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maydela/3505909387/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22514067@N00/2473894705/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22514067@N00/2474712208/in/set-72157604936428528/

http://www.quilterscache.com/B/BedofStarsBlock.html

http://www.quilterscache.com/C/CactusStarBlock.html

http://www.quilterscache.com/C/Chain&CrossBlock.html

http://www.quilterscache.com/W/WanderingStarBlock.html

http://www.quilterscache.com/P/PiecedTulipsBlock.html

lots more 9" blocks over at quilter's cache!

Of course if you want to peak into my cozy haven of quilt-beauty, just check out my flickr favs.

 If you want to add fabrics from your stash, go ahead, but please stick with my color scheme.   It's ok to mix it up and combine modern designers, repros, batiks.  Solids are fine, but NO black or white fabrics please!

Alright ladies, this is not supposed to be hard!  If I've scared you with too many options, ignore them.  Just choose a block that you'll enjoy making.  When you're done, sign it with an archival safe permanent marker (iron a piece of freezer paper to the back first so you get a nice writing surface)-- name and location please, then send it back to me by January 31st. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!  I can't wait to see them!

~Jessica