Baby Quilt "Friday!" continues this week with "Hugs and Kisses," quilt #16 from The Little Box of Baby Quilts. It's the quilt that gave me and "she"--Mrs. Traditional Quilting, that is--a chance to meet. By the time the quilt was done, "she" was rolling her eyes at me, shaking her head in disappointment. Oops.
From The Little Box of Baby Quilts, copyright 2007 Jenny Wilding Cardon/That Patchwork Place. Machine quilted by Cheryl Brown.
Color-wise, this was a fun quilt to put together. Start with a multicolored fabric, and then pull eight fabrics to match--one "X" and one "O" per fabric. Construction-wise, I could have made things easier for the end user. See those half-square triangles that make up the outer edges of the "X" and "O" blocks? Well, here's the thing. They're all half-square triangles. ALL of them. I didn't use the fancy tricks that traditional quilters now use to make those units easier. You experienced quilters know what I'm talking about--those parts of quilt blocks that give the illusion of two units, when you really only made one? Yeah, those. Phooey.
I was smart enough to make the half-square triangles two at a time, thank heavens. I was familiar with that trick. Just not the even-better tricks. I'll tell you what, though. I am gosh-dang-it good at matching points now. Gosh-DANG-it good.
I recently tried this quilt out with my boys. Little Charlie loves the colors. He keeps touching the multicolored fabric with his pointer finger like he could pick out some of the colors and give them a taste. Jack, while walking from the living room to the kitchen, often takes a moment to jump on either the "X" or the "O" blocks. Just a quick jaunt before he goes on doing whatever it is he is doing.
A few days ago I cursed the quilting heavens above because Jack spilled hot chocolate all over this quilt. Wait. He didn't spill it. He splashed it. Splattered it. Drenched it. The one quilt I was a bit afraid of getting dirty, mostly because of the white and the red fabrics in it.
So came the true test of a keeper quilt. I washed it.
Cozier. Cuddlier. And completely clean! This one's a keeper.
Mrs. Traditional Quilting, I implore you--share your secrets of the past with me in the future. I'm ready to listen. I'm ready to learn. (But no rough stuff, please. Rulers on the cutting mat are okay with me. Just not on my knuckles.)
You can see more quilts from the "little box" here, watch a video about it here, and read more about each quilt here.
And so I did.
Looking forward to sharing next "Friday!"
love this one too! did the cocoa come out!? hope so :)
ReplyDeleteWay to cute! :)
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