you could wait a weekend or two and then send him on a weekend of his hobby where he gets to do his favorite things without any nagging, like golfing or camping. THen you will have the house to yourself for hours on end. hopefully the little birds don't decide to fly home for the weekend. hehe

Yah, here I was getting all worked up about the dropping off to college thing and the DS said "See you on Friday". What???
DH does love to fish and is often gone for a whole day at a time. I'll have to encourage that habit soon, as you suggested!

How about a snowball quilt or using the disappearing 9 patch - just use complimentary fabrics on the inside pieces and the stooges fabric for the corners so that when you cut them out, you will have the stooges in your big squares.

You can also just alternate the Stooge material with other bocks so that every other one or just scattered about is the focus material and the rest would be complimentary materials.

There is a pattern called Tree farm. You have a large area in the center of the quilt. Then you make 2 rows of 4 patches. one for each end then you use a strip of fabric like the center or a matching fabric.one for each end.
I love this pattern for fabric you don't really want to cut up

Good ideas, yarn or fabric. I have a D9 patch in the works with crazy frogs right now. I really should finish that before I start this but I love the idea of finally surprising DH with a gift he can use and love.
Texas- I'll have to check that one out. Haven't seen it before.