finally the baby quilt stuff

I know I've been teasing about the baby quilts - and the one I've been sewing on in particular - but haven't managed to post any photos.

Today is the day!

I don't have a photo of the fabric pull (oops!), but I shopped my stash for fabrics based on my inspiration quilt.  I even found a background fabric that I liked that, eyeballing it, I thought would be enough for 16 blocks.

I first cut the background, knowing if I ran short on that, it would be a limiting factor and I'd either have to find more, make the quilt smaller, or get creative with the blocks.  (Maybe some with non-white-ish backgrounds and white stars instead?)  I had enough background for 12 blocks.  And not enough for any stars.

But 12 blocks is a good number and I'll go looking for that fabric later.  Let's try out the pattern!

That came out nicely!  I even used up some of the very last of that orange - 1.5" strips in my stash - that I love so much.  But this gal...she can have all the pretty fabrics.  She's that cool.

I made a few more individual blocks (no photos), and then knew I needed to make three more in each colorway.

Taken at different times of the day, on different surfaces, these don't all exactly look the same, but this was how I kept track of what went with what.  Very easy to mix them up, but truthfully, it probably wouldn't have mattered too much.

These blocks seemed to take forever.  Between cutting all the pieces - one block at a time, no mass-cutting possible here - and then sewing them in a short assembly line, there were a lot of stops and starts.  It was also not as easy to cut the pieces, so I procrastinated some.

(But a new squirrel has me back on track...)

Before I knew it I had some blue stars:

...and then some orange stars...

...and finally Monday night, some green stars!

(Three quilt block photos without a cat?  How can that be?!)

I did go looking for more of the white.  I went to three stores.  None had it.  So I've given up.

After work (and cleaning the house - vacuuming my design floor was the ultimate goal) I decided to see how just the 12 would look...

It was kinda late and the lighting was bad, so these have been computer-edited for color, but are pretty close.

The blocks will finish 13", so with this layout, the quilt will be 39x52".  The last quilt I made for her (her first child), I know I used strips that were the width of the fabric, and then made it rectangular.  I didn't note the dimensions, but I'd guess this is about the same size.  So I think this will be okay.  (You have to make sure you're not shorting child #2, you know!)

Today I will sew the blocks together and figure out a back.  I have some larger-ish chunks still in the stash from the fabric pull, but my local quilt shop is having a $5/yard sale room sale through the end of the week (owner is out with flu/pneumonia/bacterial infection...yikes!), so her employees are having a sale.  (She approved, of course, but it's still fun to consider!)  So maybe I need some stash enhancement, even if it is leftover quilt back?  Hmmm...

And to prove that the cats are ever-present, Freddie, four seconds after the above photo was taken, jumped in to help...

It got worse before I got the row markers on and the blocks picked up, but he was even trying to wrestle the pile of blocks after I'd picked them up.  He's growing so fast, and not as cuddly as he was as a kitten (definitely learning how to cat better!), but when he decides to snuggle, he's pretty adept.

A few other funnies...

I have this pair of scissors sitting by my sewing machine.  It's about half-size and can be used for paper or to cut tags off clothing (when the hubby walks in and just grabs a scissors)...but it's been a good sharp scissors for years.  But I've started noticing it has a few places that catch.  It needs sharpening.  Or retiring.  So I remembered this pair of scissors I recieved at a quilt retreat about four years ago - from the quilt fairy.

I thought they were smaller, but they're perfect!  Much fancier, so the hubby will need to be trained, but they are so much better!  Kinda like changing your rotary cutter blade, you don't realize how bad it is until you get a new one!

Also, in case you were missing cats, here's Gabby...

...helping herself to the "toys" in that bag.  She wasn't after the chocolate, but whatever it was that made the bag crinkle when a human reached into it.  Yeah, she's kinda blurry, but she doesn't sit still for long...she hides when she wants to sleep and not be disturbed.  (I know where, but respect her boundaries.)

And finally, a sneak peek of fabric for the squirrel mentioned above.  I might buy more.  On account of $5 per yard...

There's one more in there, hiding, but this was taken quick before the washing machine was started, so they aren't folded neatly yet.

Off to sew quilt blocks together.  Emma is also trying to sleep with her head on my left hand as I type, so I guess she needs some love, too...

Happy quilting!

Katie