Quilting–as in, making a whole blanket-sized quilt from start to finish–has always been one of those pie-in-the-sky goals that I never actually thought I’d accomplish. Let’s be honest, the reason I got into making cards was because they’re something you can start and finish in an afternoon. My completion rate on large projects isn’t stellar. Still, a few months ago, I got the bug bad, and started pinning more and more quilt patterns.
Then, I found out my little sister is expecting my first niece, and boom. I had a goal. It took me about 6 seconds to choose a pattern. Laura loves her some houndstooth, so when I saw this pattern by V & Co I was sold. The only question was could I finish a whole quilt by her baby shower on June 8? Or could I at least get it done by the time the baby is born? I went into this half-expecting that this poor kid would hit her 5th birthday and I’d still have a partially-pieced quilt stuffed in a drawer somewhere.
But I was wrong. BAM.
That is one 48″ by 48″ baby quilt, pieced, quilted and binded (bound? binded.) by moi.
I’m a little bit proud of myself.
Piecing this quilt is a little tricksy, but the pattern lays it all out very clearly and offers plenty of tips for getting it all to come together. I’ll definitely be using V & Co. patterns in the future.
All those diagonal striped squares start as long strips that you sew together, then press open, then sew together again.
Then you cut them on the bias and you have lots and lots of little striped squares. Marry those to black and white solid squares to make blocks, sew the blocks into strips, and the strips into a quilt front.
Lining up all those corners was no easy feat. My next quilt will have far fewer corners.
Anyway, it was all done in time for the shower. It went together surprisingly fast once the blocks were done. Even the binding, which I always procrastinate on, was done a full day before we left for the east coast.
My sister thought it was okay.
So now I’ve set a precedent for all my nieces and nephews, and find myself hoping my siblings and siblings-in-law don’t have too many kids.
Linking to:
The Blackberry Vine
Romance on a Dime
Clippie Dips
Thank You Honey