starting to fall for modern maples

This weekend I had every intention of working on my Rainy Day quilt.  I'm so close to finishing the squares for the top. Buuuuuut then!  Except for Saturday the weather has been so deliciously Fall!  Cool and crisp in the morning, warm and sunny in the afternoon, but still with that Fall feeling.  On my blogroll I came across this post and my curiosity was piqued.  What's up with Modern Maples?   So I googled and was like yeah!  I'm not on instagram (big surprise!) which is apparently the new *thing*.  Scrolling through the quilts and comments and stuff almost makes me want to be a part of that.  Buuuut then again I'm not set up for that cell phone to get that app to get on there and I'm not going to do that just to be a part of something even though it looks cool.  Anyhoo, that's a different tangent for a different day.  The good news for me is that there is a flickr pool and I am on that so I can still join in the fun there :)  There is even a free pattern link from Lark Crafts and I have a gazillion Fall fabrics to choose from.

baha!  So much to say just to get to the point of: I started a new quilt!  I have 8 squares so far and have been chopping up STASH fabric for more.  I had to fight the urge to run to Joann's to get some solid beige-y linen-y color fabric because really I have plenty already in my stash!  And, if I run out it will force some creativity, right?  yes.

This is what I have so far.  Initially my thought was to mix the beige and cream color backrounds and maybe do some 9 patch blocks as the fillers.

But, then I started to get sketchy about the beige.  I don't really like it.  Compared to the cream backround I don't feel like the colors 'pop' as much.  Except for that purple one on the top, which is my current favorite square.

I put all the cream backrounds together to see if I preferred that and I'm still not sure what I'll do.  I could make the beige ones the back of the quilt.  Except I love that purple one!    I think I may just keep mixing them up and then once it's all together maybe it will look how I originally envisioned?  Only because I want that purple one on the front :)  The middle square is a piece that I have been hoarding for quite some time.  I had bought a fat quarter because it was super expensive, from the quilt store in Chico before it went out of business and have just fussy cut the owl and pussycat scene out of it.  

p.s. do you like my super expensive high class design board?  You, too, can have this set up with just two plastic table cloths.  The kind with the fuzzy back :)  I even bought these on clearance so the whole set up maybe set me back $5!