I did scroll through the copyright stuff, but copyrighting is for patterns and such, not the finished product (not necessarily anyway; it's a very complicated thing that copyright stuff....)
Speaking of which, how do you go about writing a pattern or instructions in my case, since it's more of a method than a pattern?
Patrice, as you suggested, I've spent (wasted? :lol: ) quite a bit of time searching google images, various websites, books, etc., and haven't found anything quite like "my precious" so from that viewpoint, yes, it may be an original thought (who knew I could have one of those?! :lol: ).
I think I'll just save it for a bit and submit it to a magazine contest or maybe try entering it in a quilt show. It's not actually finished yet, just a top now, so not sure what I'm worried about.... :roll:
Hopefully these and other related questions can continue to be discussed and we'll ultimately get some answers.
rf