Baby Quilts and a {Sanity Saving} Random Sampler Attempt

Making baby quilts is generally fun and easy peasy. This time I allowed it to stress me out a little because I am making 'for a special someone'. Not that I asked them for specific colors etc., but still, I'd like to feel that they will appreciate the final product.

Baby boy quilt

I used this photo as inspiration for my baby 'boy' quilt, but you know me. I had to add in a printed fabric somewhere. I also changed the look of the star and went with a sawtooth style instead of the pointier version seen in the original. Then later, just because I wanted to.... That little panda family didn't look quite right without older sister being included. Where's our little Lucy? 

I believe this is called Broderie Perse when you cut an element out of fabric and use it for your applique shape. The whole thing looks so sweet up close, but from a distance muddies up the look of the star a little too much. So disappointing. It might have to be unpicked and stitched onto the label at the back of the quilt whenever I get to that point. I've told you and told you before, that sometimes it's possible to go too far with applique additions? Now do you believe me?*sigh

With an added panda bear...

The little girl quilt {I had to have both ready to go just in case!}, was made out of leftover strings from the Dried Flowers quilt that I'm still working on. Trust me to get the secondary project finished up before the original one is even close. Though I measured and cut the string strips to equal sizes, it's obvious there is a bit too much 'ease' in the quilt. Hope it doesn't make machine quilting a nightmare. As you can see, a bit of applique jumped on the front of this one too...

Baby girl quilt

After wading through the baby quilt dilemmas I felt stuck in limbo land--not wanting to sandwich and quilt either one before I find out for sure which is needed! So the very next day I woke up and it was snowing. Ughh. No more snow! I think something inside me sort of snapped because I immediately headed for the orphan totes and started digging out parts and pieces. Yep, it's one of those 'squirrel' quilts that pop up out of nowhere.

Leftover sashing bits

Seriously, though Why not have a little fun with something that has zero expectations? I put together a nice little pile of leftovers, including blocks, fabric squares and hst units. Anything in this color palette was fair game. And don't ask me why these colors were chosen. It just was.

Orphaned blocks, units and fabric squares

I sewed leftover sashing bits together, finally put the letters for I am a maker into one unit {originally intended for the back of another quilt}, made four patch blocks, sewed units of leftover squares together, and just generally doodled with all the available bits. Some of these pieces could have long ago went into the scrap bin, but it's terribly hard for me to toss similar sized stacks of squares. What a waste of time and effort!

Sewing together the parts

While working along, I quickly realized that I was trying to force it into rows much like the Patchwork Doodle went together last year. No! Not going to work in this case at all. This is more of a Random Sampler, utility sort of quilt, going together like a big 'ol {fiber} puzzle.

Trying to figure out a piecing layout

The next day, I took everything off the wall and started over. This time I approached the layout exactly in a random sampler way, taking care not to gallop off into medallion quilt territory--my current comfort zone. I tried to work quickly and intuitively, mostly aiming for a measure of balance and calm. Charting the unknown is hard enough without over thinking things, lets not go there!

Starting over

Ahh... This felt so much better. Okay. Time to divide the quilt into sections and address them one at a time. I started on the left side of the quilt, at the top floral fabric surrounding 'I am a maker' and have worked through to the section directly underneath that middle statement. That leaves me with two sections left to figure out: straight across the top of the quilt and down the entire right side. Though I want to fill in the quilt adequately, I also don't want to spend weeks on this particular quilt. Honestly, the only real goal is to have fun and not let the sewing get too complicated.

Sewing the pieces together in four sections

I always have to laugh when my readers wonder where the applique is going to go in the latest quilty attempt. Why does everything have to have applique? Not every quilt looks good with it {as my baby boy quilt earlier in the post suggests}. But yeah... you know me too well. I almost always have to at least try....

Contemplating some applique

I have to admit, the flowers did made my heart go pitter patter immediately. If they end up staying, then I have to unpick the applique circles from the centers of those blocks. That might be a deal breaker.*wink  I kind of liked having four of those red circles contrasting with all the busy piecework in the rest of the quilt  too. Hmm... When those are gone, it does changes the entire balance. Probably gonna have to finish filling in {sewing} the top and right side of the quilt before I make a final decision. Some it just comes down to what we like best, no other rhyme or reason required! Linking up to Wendy's Peacock Party!