Baby Blue

This is the little blue baby quilt I've been working on. As I mentioned in my last post, my original color scheme didn't work out because the lime green I wanted to use turned into a ferocious NEON green when it sat next to these blues.

I wish I could understand why or how colors do things like that.


Here's a close-up of some of the blocks. I'm trying for something soothing here; I'm hoping the monochromatic color scheme is helping to achieve that. I'm going to float this center panel with a narrow white border (Kona snow, my favorite white!) and then add a border row of on-point squares around that.

I have a very soft yellow that I might try to use as a narrow border beyond that, but I'm not sure if that will work with all those blues. I have lots of all the fabric left, so I'll keep experimenting until I find something I'm pleased with.

I would like to back it with a flannel to make it extra snuggly. Has anyone out there used flannel as a backing? I've only worked with it once and I hated it because it frayed so easily. And shrinking was a major issue. But for a backing? Fraying wouldn't really be an issue with that, I hope. I'd welcome any advice. If I do decide to hand quilt, has anyone had any experience with that?

These little nine patches went together so easily; it was a joy to work with them. I can't think why I don't use them more often.

I'm making this quilt for a friend of mine who had a very premature baby boy just a month ago. He is still in the hospital, but doing well and gaining weight, so we're all hoping for the best for him.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

This is our last week of school. I can't believe I am able to say that! It seems as if this year has just flown by. Three of my very dear friends at school are retiring this year, so in many ways this year's last weeks are bittersweet. The turnover for teachers at our school is very low, so we've all become very close over the years. On the other hand, the retirees are definitely looking forward to some rest and relaxation so I'm happy for them.

Back Again

I haven't felt much like blogging for the past month or so, and there has been very little sewing going on around here anyway.

Last weekend, however, I did manage to put in some quality time in the sewing room and got quite a bit accomplished.

First, a bit of play. I found a really nice fabric at Hobby Lobby while I was buying yet another lot of balsa wood for the DI team months ago. It seemed perfect for serendipity blocks, but it took me this long to get anything together. I have about 10 more of the hexagon blocks and I even made some with diamonds, but I don't want to put them all together, so I'm just going to use the individual blocks to practice machine quilting once school is over and I have some time to play with the sewing machine.



And I finally got the borders on the serendipity quilt from this winter. I haven't decided whether I'm going to hand or machine quilt this one--it lays pretty flat, but since my machine quilting skills are still in the novice stage I think I might lay it aside and try to hand quilt it at some point.

I also started what was meant to be a simple little nine-patch baby quilt for a friend, but the colors are not working out. The lime green I had planned to use turned into a rather ferocious neon green when put together with the blues I wanted to use. Back to the drawing board on that one, I guess. I've picked up some other blue fabric and I'm going to work on it this afternoon while I watch the Indianapolis 500 on television.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!