It's been a bit of dry spell around here as far as sewing, but I have a nephew on the way and decided it was time to get a quilt started for him. I think he's due in April...
Last weekend I decided on Saturday to head out for fabrics. Turned out that was a good plan, but didn't know that at the time.
Saturday afternoon I washed and dried the fabrics with a plan to iron and get started. That was not to be. Family plans interrupted, but that was okay.
Sunday it was predicted that we'd get a foot of snow. I smiled to myself and thought "yeah, right". It was snowing Sunday morning and roads weren't great, so I'm glad we headed out for the fabric (and lunch - the key to getting the hubby to drive me to the store is lunch!) Saturday. But I still didn't believe we'd get that much. Or it would be that big of a deal.
Turns out they were right.
Monday morning I got up early, already knowing we had a lot of snow when I went to bed and more was coming down. We live on a relatively major road, so the road gets plowed regularly. We have a longer driveway and with street plows going by and years ago made the choice to hire a company to plow the driveway. I went out and shoveled the path to the garage, the area in front of the garage and tromped through knee-high drifts of snow in the driveway to get to the barn to feed the kitties out there.
And waited.
The plow service is supposed to be here by 7am. I understand with the foot of snow we got that they'd probably be late. They were moving a lot of snow everywhere. And I'd imagine at least a few of the guys who drive the plows had to dig themselves out of their own driveways first. 8am rolled around and no plow. 9am, no plow. 10am no plow. 10:45 they showed up and it took them at least twice as long to clear our driveway as normal. I'd been in communication with those at work who were able to get there, and at this point, knowing even the plowed roads weren't in very good condition, it was decided I'd take a forced snow day for the remainder of the day.
So much for getting up early to account for shoveling snow and bad driving conditions, right? I'd even donned clothes that require ironing!
All morning, I'd kept busy around the house doing chores, burning off the antsy energy of waiting to find out what was going to happen. When the call was finally made for me to stay home, I decided working on the baby quilt was definitely a good way to spend my snow day! Plus the house was already clean!
Somehow the colors all got washed out here, but this was the start of my afternoon.
The pattern is somewhat complicated, so I drafted the pattern and figured out how to break it up so partial and inset seams were not going to be needed and started putting together "kits" for different parts of the block.
The original pattern was offered as a kit from Connecting Threads and I pinned the quilt on Pinterest more than a year ago, but it was no longer available when I went to make this quilt, so I had to wing it. Good thing my mom taught me how to draft a quilt from a photo!
And then yesterday I decided enough stalling, let's start sewing this thing together! Today I worked a little more and this is about where I'm at:
There's sunshine in there! Yesterday it was well above freezing and drizzled all day, so a lot of the snow is gone, but I'm happier to see the sunshine! (Of course, the roads are vastly improved with the warmer temperatures, so I'm glad for that as well.)
Half the blocks have this light grey background and the other half will have a darker grey. They will alternate in a 16-block, square quilt. At 12" a block, it will finish 48x48" unless I decide it needs a border. I bought far more fabric than I'll need, so that should be easy to do if I choose. I even already bought a back, which is a two-tone grey chevron print. Very trendy right now and I'm hoping I don't kick myself when I have to piece it...
I'd seen this quilt before niece Hailey was born. Before we even knew she was going to be a girl. And decided that for my brother-in-law who is a mechanic, it would be perfect if he had a little boy. Well, Hailey turned 1 in November and shortly after that we heard that the little one that will make Hailey a big sister is going to be a boy. Easy choice for this design!
And now, in writing this, I've realized I cut only enough for half the blocks, so I guess I'd better sign off and go back and fix my silly error. At least I have plenty of time and fabric to fix it! (Or maybe I'll decide a 9-block quilt is enough and just make one more? Stay tuned to see how it turns out!)
Happy quilting,
Katie
6 comments:
I'd go totally insane with that much snow! Glad you got the sunshine; we have lots of it here today too, and 60+ degrees finally! (Remember, this is Texas!) Your blocks are going to be great, and also together soon I'm sure! ---"Love"
You Mom taught you well - knowing how to draft a quilt or a block from a photo is a basic skill that many quilters do not seem to have these days - LOVE your colors!! - ;))
That is going to be such a cute quilt for a little guy, especially since daddy is a mechanic. It is just perfect! Can't wait to see it come together. I have quilted enough now that I can usually draft my own pattern from a picture and find it really fun. It helps with those out of print designs I finally decide I just have to do! Have fun!
Gosh that snow certainly makes its presence felt. At least you got a lot done at home. That is a terrific block! What a clever effect.
That is a cute block. I look forward to seeing it all together. Have fun stitching it up.
That looks like a very fun block. So, just so we know, are we hoping you get more snow days so you can sew more, or have you had it with snow for this season? I hesitate to say it, but I wish we had more of it here. Things are rather brown, gray and blah around here so far this winter.
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