A couple years ago, the mister thought it would be fun to try teaching me some photography tips. He has a passion for photography and I thought it couldn't hurt to learn how to take better pictures of my sewing and quilting projects. While he was teaching me about his hobby, he thought it'd be fun to learn how to make a quilt. So, we looked through my fabric (he picked Arcadia by Sanae) and then found a tutorial he thought would be fun (Jacquie Gehring's Wonky Log Cabin tutorial). I showed him how to use the rotary cutter appropriately and then he came up with his own cutting/sewing/pressing station, which pretty much meant that the cutting mat, ironing board, and sewing machine were all set up on our living room floor so he could go from one station to the next with only rotating his torso. He used his knee to push down the pedal as he sewed. I wish I would have taken a picture because it was quite the sight!
These are the four blocks he made during the first couple sewing sessions.
After making those blocks, he got busy and distracted by other things and they were put aside for a couple years. However, two of his coworkers got married to each other a couple months ago and are expecting their first child. The mister wanted to pull out the blocks and finish a baby quilt to give to his friends. As the first few blocks took a bit of time to make, he wanted to switch gears and use a design that he could make in an evening. So, I helped by cutting the fabric and he sewed them into strips. He did all the piecing and pressing. He even spray basted the quilt, straight-line quilted it, and attached the first side of the binding.
He did such a great job and I'm so proud of him. He took the quilt to work a couple days later (I had to show it off at the SLMQG meeting of course) and gave it to the husband/soon-to-be-dad in the break room. I wish I could have seen it! The mister said his face turned all red as he handed over the quilt to his coworker in a room full of people. Priceless!
Earlier that day, I was working on this baby quilt. When my partner sent me the pillow she made for me in round 7 of the Pillow Talk Swap, she included an extra purple string, paper-pieced star that didn't end up fitting into her pillow design. I used that as the focal point of this quilt.
I don't have a lot of purple in my stash, which is strange because I love purple for clothes, but I guess I just haven't been a big user of it in quilts. Anyway, I managed to find some purples that worked well with the star as well as the solid that I picked up from Joann's: Kate Spain's Central Park, Lizzy House's 1001 Peeps, and Joel Dewberry's Heirloom. I used strips from each of those prints to make the binding as well. (That darn breeze wouldn't let me get a flat picture of the quilt!)
On the back, I just pieced a simple improv block using some of the scraps from the front and then offset it with the purple solid.
I also tried a new thread on this quilt. First, I used my typical piecing and quilting thread (but in gray instead of white), which is a 100% cotton machine quilting thread from Joann's. I'm not sure the brand, but it comes in a hefty size on the spool. I also wanted to try out Superior thread so I ordered a sampler pack a few weeks ago and one of the spools they sent me happened to be a dark purple that matched the purple solid in this quilt perfectly. And, just like in my last post, I tried some more new-to-me quilting designs. They're not even or consistent or great to say the least, but I kind of like them. They're "homey" and give the quilt a handmade feel that I like. Plus, practice makes perfect, right?
This quilt will be finding a home with a new little baby soon-to-be born.
