On the Design Wall: MEQ 3--Coach

In my post about Mind's Eye Quilts, this was third down on the list (and on the rack):

I pulled it from the rack and placed it up on the design wall for further progress analysis:

45" x 82"--what an odd proportion to create! I apparently had a lap quilt in mind for myself, given the length. In truth, I'd grown bored with this top, not really liking the taupe background. I pondered what I could do--is it long enough to create 2 lap/throw-sized quilts of 45" x 41" (plus borders) and donate them? I'm not a fan of lap quilts for donations, preferring to donate things that can cover a bed. What to do, what to do?

But, the longer I looked at it, the more I began to like it again. I wondered if I could find any more of that taupe to make more pinwheels. There was none in my drawers of 1+ yard fabrics, and I could find only a few 2.5"x4.5" bricks in my Scrap User system boxes (which would produce one half-triangle square each). Could I move around the existing pinwheels by trimming the bottom and moving them to the side? It would take a LOT of unsewing and resewing, that much was certain.

I needed to revisit my original plan, so I pulled out the baggie with the remaining bits 'n' pieces.

Lookit that! More taupe!! Also, the label I had created:

These pinwheels were created from the non-baseball-themed 6.5" squares swapped with members of the RCTQ newsgroup throughout the 1990s (the collection of baseball squares was used in another top). The year I was creating the pinwheel blocks a TV commercial would come on frequently, showing a baseball game being paused and the announcer exclaiming, "Coach is calling for The Heat!" A chicken then strutted out to the pitcher's mound and fired off a 100-mph egg. I've no idea what product was being pitched (ha!) and The Google has failed me in my search for it, but as we were raising chickens at the time and my friends were inundating me with chicken- and egg-themed fabrics, it seemed a perfect name and theme for this top: "Coach is Calling for the HEAT!"

(Edit 10/2024: Found it!)

Next up: Our Intrepid Sewist Starts to Pick Out Seams (and not in the "select" meaning of "pick out").