This has gone a lot faster than I expected - having the week off from work probably helped. It is like each block is it's own little quilt; I get to decide what material I'll use, cut the pieces, sew them together and then take a picture. I get so excited about the one I just did, I have to do another and pretty soon, the afternoon is gone and I have all these wonderful blocks. Ahh!
So below are pictures of the rest of the blocks and a couple pictures of them laid out on the bed. Each of the blocks looks great on their own but when I saw them all together 3 of them don't quite fit so I'm going to re-do those with some different fabric. I'll take before and after pictures and post those when I get them done.
The next step is to decide what order the blocks go in. There will be 6 blocks per row and 6 rows - that will make a lap quilt for 2 - about 6' x 6'. The pictures of the blocks on the bed show them laid out as they came out of the book - in number order.
My plan is to put the blocks together with a 2-tone sash but I haven't settled on the material yet. I'll go look tomorrow to see what I find. I'd like to find a really pale green and a taupe that complements it but I never know what will jump out at me when I'm surrounded by fabric.
So here are the final blocks:
I have a little more time on my hands than I thought I might so I am making a quilt for my friend who is getting married this summer. We've attempted to get together to pick put a pattern and material but there always seems to be something getting in the way.
Until the other day... I'd just bought Tula Pink's new book - 100 Modern Blocks. Putting a bunch of blocks together that aren't the same pattern reminded me of my friend - nice to look at and bloody complex when you actually get into it.
So he asked for a Green quilt. I went down to the Pacific Fabric outlet store and got stuck in the Batik section - no surprise there :)
To make a lap quilt is going to take about 40 blocks so it will take a few posts before all of them are done but here's what I've got so far. Lots more to come...
 |
| Start with 1/3 yard each |
Tula's block is on the left - from her book. The one for the lap quilt is on the right.
I'm starting to wonder if I'm ever going to get to actually sew anything for this customer. I've spent so many hours tearing apart baby clothes and cutting them and then ironing on interfacing and cutting again. But at last, I have two of the three cut. I just hope the customer likes what I've done.
One of the pieces we started with is a blanket - or was. I haven't cut it to size yet, just laid it in the middle so the name shows. Not sure what is going to happen with it but I like the lettering.
It took a couple tries and a couple visits with the customer but I think we are on the right track with Hazel's design. The hex will have an ivory sashing on all sides. They aren't very big so we need quite a few of them to make a nice sized quilt for Hazel.
It took a little more time to get the garments torn apart and then fused to the backing material.
Here are a few pictures of the pieces that have been finished - just lots of pieces laying next to each other. Nothing has been sewn together yet. Once I get more fusing, I'll make more pieces and then hook up with the customer to arrange them.
This is going to be a wild and crazy quilt - lots of fun colors and patterns :)
This weekend I got to meet a new customer who would like to take a pile of special garments that her two girls wore as youngsters and make quilts for both of them and one for herself.
With three quilts on the design board, it is an interesting task to keep all the ideas and garments straight. But, Mom is very organized, practical and very consistent. She is also very visual and asked if I could produce some samples of the initial quilt ideas she had. Fortunately, we agreed to use scraps so we didn't deplete the special garments. The result of the samples was quite interesting - to me. Mom was able to make decisions on the quilts for the two girls and the sample for her was what she asked for but not what she wanted. So I'll make a new set of samples now that we know more about what she wants.
For Stella, we are going to do simple 4" x 4" blocks on point. Her quilt will lean to the aqua and blue colors. It will have two borders - inner probably about 2" and the outer one 4" or 6".
Here are the "special" garments that Mom pulled out just for Stella.
And the ones I pulled that I thought would make Stella's quilt the calm, mature theme that we are looking for.
And here are the "special garments for Hazel. Not as many - second child, you know - but enough to start the theme for her quilt. She is the "rock star" who likes all bright colors and doesn't mind a little chaos. Her quilt will be hex's - probably 3" - 4" across. Some of them will be solid - to take in a special pattern or saying and others will have six triangles to make the Hex.
Here's the possibilities for the rest of Hazel's quilt.
Of course, both quilts will have some of each other's garments and there will still be enough left to make Mom's quilt.
After the first of the year, we'll get together again to make final decision about who gets what garments and to finalize the design for Mom's quilt.
This weekend, we got together to make decisions on the final border, backing and binding for Baby A's quilt. Even with a lot of on-line research, Mom still hadn't found just the right piece of material for the back. The intent was to have an outline of the world - to represent how many places Baby A has been and will get to travel to.
Instead, we ended up with a piece with all the letters of the alphabet - in lots of different colors.
There wasn't enough of this material to allow for a second border but rather than look for another piece, we decided to keep the quilt top a little smaller.
When it came to the binding, we picked 5 of the colors that are shared between the front and back - all solids. I'll piece the colors together to make a scrappy binding that will be a great way for someone to learn their colors.
Next, we take the finished quilt to The Quilting Loft to pick out a quilting pattern.
