The baby quilt

Remember that a couple weeks ago, I picked up a kit from the baby bundles group at guild.  And, I didn't know what to do with it.  They gave a pattern to sew the blocks together in a 5x5 grid, and the thought of that made my brain hurt.  Or, maybe it was my hands.  Or maybe it just offended my sewing machine. 

Anyway, I decided to take it as a challenge.  And, a challenge needs some rules, so I decided to use all they gave me and I could add anything I want. 

First, I laid the fabrics out.  And, I looked at them.  I took a picture and I thought about it at work.  Hmmm.  There are some large scale prints there that I'd like to not cut into. 

So, I split them into fabrics I would cut at the top and fabrics I wouldn't cut at the bottom.

Then, I started to pair fabrics up.  This has 12 pairs, plus a rainbow left over.  But, I wanted a square quilt.  So, only my  favorite 9 pairs.  As I was thinking about all this, I was thinking about a pattern.  I could use an uneven 9 patch with a very large center.  And, if I did, I could use one block uncut and cut the other into four strips.  But, that wouldn't fill the corners.  So, what if I used two of these fabrics and cut them into squares instead of strips.  That would give me enough corners for 8 blocks, but I needed 9, so substitute in another fabric for the corners of the 9th block. 

And, I made the nine blocks.  Get a load of the block in the center.  It has grandma and nana printed on it.  It had to be the center.  And, the red corners set it off. 

That used up 20 of the 25 blocks in the kit, plus the red for the corners of the center block. 

Next up, borders.  I almost used some gingham because that's what they gave me for the back and I thought it would tie the border and the back together.  But, it was busy and I didn't care for it much.  So, I went to my stash, and I came up with these borders.  Note the outer corner squares...you're about to see that fabric again.

The backing piece they gave me was about 40x54".  That would have done the 5x5 pattern they gave me, with none left to spare.  But, what I ended up with is 46" square.  So, I added a strip up the center of my backing from stash.  My camera doesn't catch it, but the yellow of the gingham print is the same shade as the background of the center strip.

And, I ended up with a very cute quilt.  This weekend, I plan to baste it and hopefully start the quilting soon.  I want to trace my hand on freezer paper and iron multiple copies to the front of the quilt and quilt around them.  Maybe.  I'll have to let you know how that goes.  It's something I want to use for another quilt, so this is a great time to give it a try.  And, I want to work on my machine binding skills, so I plan to make a flanged binding for this quilt, using strips of two different fabrics and sewing it completely down by machine. 

And, that's how I turned a boring charity project into an exciting project that I am enjoying.  I needed the challenge to stimulate my brain.  I'd gotten kind of out of the "thinking of quilting" habit and was too focused on the news.  This got me back to things I enjoy and I hope I can keep my mind there. 

It helps that we're not getting the crazy tweet of the day now...Thank you Mr Kelly! 

Everybody have a great Friday.  I just turned in a huge project at work that I got when someone else gave up, so I had a very, very short deadline.  And, somehow, I got it done on time. 

Not somehow...I got it done because I focused everything I had on that project and came up with some relatively brilliant work, if I do say so myself.   (Cuz nobody else probly will.)

Today, it gets reviewed by a lawyer, so I'll have questions to answer.  But, other than that, I think I got it! 

Now, back to our quilting, currently in progress.  And, yes, that is a seam ripper you see...cuz nobody's prefect!

Lane