Buried in Berries

Most toddlers have a favorite bedtime story; one they ask for again and again. I've read Bruce Degen's Jamberry so many times our copy wore out and had to be replaced. Like Goodnight Moon, Green Eggs and Ham and Where the Wild Things Are, it’s embedded permanently in my brain. I couldn’t forget the words if I tried: “One berry, two berry, pick me a blueberry. Hatberry, shoeberry in my canoe berry. Under the bridge and over the dam looking for berries; berries for jam.” I guess it’s only natural that when I picked up the strawberry printed fabric for the 2009 quilt challenge, that book was the first thing on my mind. I wanted to make a dozen snail’s trail blocks with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries swirling together like fruit in a blender. But I didn’t find the last two berry prints in time. I’ve always wondered if I my original plan would have won a blue ribbon. Guess I’ll never know.