I had all week to make a baby quilt for a shower that was scheduled for this morning. I was excited to finally try making a pixelated heart quilt. I used a Valori Wells butterfly print from my stash to inspire a warm pull of stash fabrics in deep and vibrant shades of plum, orange, and red. I considered surrounding the heart in low volume prints with white and pink but soon discovered gray was a better way to go.
The funny thing that happened was, on Thursday night, when it was all put together, I decided I simply couldn't part with it. I want to do more with this piece and I wasn't willing to quilt it up, bind it, and give it away so soon.
So I decided I'd better make something else and began this second quilt yesterday around lunch time, finishing around 1 am (with lots of interruptions, of course, including the monthly book club I attend).
I am really pleased with how this came out too. Here's my personal feedback on the quilt:
The bad: I will admit I am embarrassed with how wonky the whole thing looks. I really don't think I trimmed it crookedly after quilting. I don't think I ever had this problem when I pin-basted and I am wondering this has anything to do with spray baste? The edges are definitely kind of wavy. The picture, which was done in haste, as I was running late for the shower this morning- makes it look pretty crazy but I promise it looks pretty cute in person. If anyone has any insight into this, please let me know. Edited to add: I don't think it's the spray baste- what has changed is that I have been machine binding my quilts. Am I wrapping it too tightly?
The good: I LOVE the bear print and this pattern showcases it beautifully without wasting a lot of fabric by way of fussy cutting. Matching prints from my stash was a little difficult but I think I did decently and I am giggling at all the coincidental "b" words in this print: bear, balloon, bike, bird, and butterfly.
If you ever want to do this pattern yourself, it's so easy. The measurements I used are: two 10.5 x 40 panels of the bears and the strips measure 2.5 x 7 and I used 60 strips from 11 fabrics.
This week was personally difficult for me because my baby has had a terrible cold which I also caught from him. We've both been miserable. Yet somehow I persevered with these two projects. The deadline of the baby shower was a BIG motivator to work on these but I also think my enthusiasm was linked to starting something new and fresh with fabrics that I was excited about.
This has helped me understand myself better: maybe I am sewing so many dresses for Charlotte and avoiding my WIPs because I am tired of my old projects and I enjoy the almost instant gratification of finishing up a dress in a day or two. When I am not excited about a project, I do everything to avoid it! So I decided I am going to give myself a break and allow myself to start some new quilts, which also relates to my goal this year of tackling some stacks of fabric that have been waiting for my attention. There will come a time when I will feel motivated to deal with my currently uninspiring WIPs- and there aren't even that many: I think there are only four.
Stash fabric used in this post: 3 yards (not including the heart quilt top)
Linking up to Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.
4 comments:
Love your heart quilt, I need to have quick makes in amongst longer projects too, so I usually have several things on the go, I've just bought some 'project boxes' to keep everything together whilst I flit from one thing to another :-)
I love the heart quilt, it is so pretty and the grey works really well. I made a cushion in this design last year as a Valentine present with small squares, but still want to make a larger one as a lap quilt. x
Both gorgeous quilts!
Love the bear print! It is so cute and fun. The heart quilt is a great project and don't worry too much about the wobble...it will still be warm! Visiting from Crazy Mom Quilts linkup.
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