I had to buy an expensive panel that featured all kinds of horses posing in all kinds of scenes to get a pose worthy of the mighty Citation. I wanted to get an image of horse where I could drape a  blanket of roses over his withers. This is the best I could do; in my mind Citation is enjoying retirement in the woods imagining the blanket on his back. This horse is not the right color (too red) but I had to use what I could find.  LOL  Those "roses" are pretty clunky, too.  Didn't see any point in trying to create his leather-walled stall. (Too bad my dad didn't have a decent camera in those days.)

(Three cheers for the Chicago School of Fusing and what they taught me about working with Pellon 805! Those posies are from a Kaffe Fassett fabric collection.)

Next photo shows my three blocks created since last posting.

First is my beloved pet parakeet Skeezix who learned to say "Pretty Boy", "Judy" and "Pretty Judy". That last was his own creation (to my delight).  Skeets was  named for a character in a comic strip named Gasoline Alley.

Bottom is Schoolhouse block which does not really represent Calumet School where I taught for three years; it was a drab beige concrete block monstrosity where I taught from 1963 to 1966. When DH and I took our kids by the building in 1979 to see where their mom had worked it had become a church ... the Columbus Public School System had obviously sold the property because of drop in enrollment in the neighborhood.

I like them both.  You have a way of making any pattern an "I Spy" pattern.

Looks like a perfect block for you with purposefully chosen fabrics.

You may have enough kitties for more than one quilt.

Judy, so interesting to see the blocks representing your life.  Can't wait to see the completed quilt.

Judy,

LOVE your interpretation of the winning Citation.  Skeezix is also a delight.  Poor schoolhouse doesn't have a chance to shine when displayed with such gorgeous blocks!  <G>

Cris in MT

First year of teaching fifth graders was great fun. Little did I know.

Second year was rough.

Third year was much rougher because I was "experienced" and so I got the hard core kiddos (never mind the gory details). Suffice to say it was an extremely unpleasant situation with 26 boys, 13 girls, some with police records (this in 1966, mind you) and a principal who was going psycho and only wanted to count spelling books not enforce discipline.

I didn't sign my contract at the end of that year (with DH's encouragement) and went job hunting for something that didn't involve children. That's when I learned COBOL and kept track of truck loads of gravel for the Ohio highway department.

That's why I was not inspired to created a cute or clever Schoolhouse block.

All of the block are great but the horse and roses does take center stage.

So is the next block we see going to be a dump truck?

Not sure if there is enough room but you should consider free motion quilting some writing on your blocks..like pretty Judy under the bird.

Jo

I have dump truck fabric

if you want me to browse novelties, let me know.  I do have several dump truck fabrics.