new tricks

Oh, dear.  January has turned into such a busy month when it was supposed to be a relaxing start to 2011.  How does that happen?


I'm not entirely sad about it, though.  January has already been filled with lots of craft time; the best part is I'm sewing and quilting without deadline.  Mostly.


When university friends of mine asked if I could make them a quilt for their soon-to-be-born first child, I jumped at the chance.  I'm always happy to make quilts, and it's only better when I'm actually making them for a reason.


So over Christmas break, I finally sewed together the quilt top of my 'purple' quilt.  Setting the blocks on the diagonal gives this quilt a look I really love, but it really, really requires concentration.

Forgive the not-so-great picture, but this is what happens when you try to sew everything together long after you should have stopped sewing.  Oops!  More than once, I had to pull out my seam ripper for this project.

The quilt is much bigger than a baby quilt typically is, as my friends wanted their little girl to be able to use it for years to come.  It took some time with Johanna to sort out the measurements of my setting triangles, and I learned some new tricks (thanks, friend!).  I'm so, so happy with this quilt, and I can see myself making many more. Who knew half-square triangles could be so fun?


I'm determined to see this quilt finished by the time Baby M. comes along in just a few weeks, and I think it can be done.  I'm keeping the quilting clean and simple so the focus is on the colourful fabrics.  For the binding, I'm thinking of using the Library Stripe fabric in the cranberry colourway from Greenfield Hill (a collection I adore by the way; every time I look at it, I love it more and more). What do you think?