Baby Quilt 2.0

Right up until the moment Holden was born and my brother finally revealed his real name, I referred to my newest little nephew as "2.0".  I found this much more entertaining than either my brother or his wife.  I suppose my vision of two little boys running around their house was funny to me and a little bit terrifying to them, so I'll forgive them for not laughing at my joke.

In what is now officially a tradition for my brother's kids, I finished up Holden's baby quilt today.  The construction of this quilt has taken the better part of the last four months because of my time in Atlanta.  It started out in the usual way, with a photo from the internet and an afternoon with CAD.

Then, came the shopping, cutting, and sewing.  

The good idea fairy said half square triangle blocks wouldn't be that hard... she's a liar.  I don't think a single block ended up square in the end - no thanks to seriously crooked fabric.  None-the-less, I managed to get all the blocks put together and arranged into this nifty pattern.

Only to have Jeeves (our robot vacuum) eat them for lunch one day when I forgot to close the door to the sitting room.

After some more arranging, and a three month cooling off period while went to Atlanta, I finally got the front pieced together.  Then, I made some super-cute little boat squares to help me make the backing fabric a little wider.  Nothing like having the quilt face end up 6" wider than you anticipated...

I stitched a message into the back (note to self - next time use 18pt font), quilted the front following the pattern and colors of the big diamonds on the front, then started on piecing together the binding.  

Now, I've never attempted to use real, big-girl quilt binding before.  You know, the bias cut kind.  And... now I know why.  What a pain.  I didn't have the option to roll over the edges like I did last time, but I will make sure I have that option on every quilt from here on out.

You're supposed to be all fancy and hand stitch it into place, but after the amount of folding and ironing that went into getting it ready to go, I wasn't really up for hand stitching.  Plus, a nice top stitch is sturdier.  And this quilt is going to a little boy.  Sturdy is good.

The finished product turned out great.  My favorite part is the little boat squares on the back.

Congratulations to my brother and sister-in-law, and welcome to the family Holden!!

P52 - Red - 40/52

Red things aren't easy to find in the summer in Texas.  There's plenty of brown and not much else.  I saw this sign while walking down the street in Fredericksburg today, right as I was about to give up on finding something.

As an aside, week 40 already?  Where did this year go?

P52 - Heavy - 39/52

Heavy luggage and a heavy heart.

For the last three months, Atlanta has been an adventure, a refuge from the whirlwind of life, and a place of renewal.  Tomorrow, I step back into the storm and pray that I make it through to the other side.