05.24.03
My First Quilt Top
(first top done, 5th quilt finished)
I've got plenty of quilt ideas in my brain and a few projects started, but here's my first ever* finished quilt top! It started when I bought two pairs of flannel pajama bottoms from Old Navy in 2001. That's the baby blue retro gift print. Post-Christmas 2002, I picked up two more pairs, this time a complimentary light green retro Christmas tree print. I thought simple flannel prints would be easy to come by like stripes and polka dots. No satisfactory prints. So, I got a handful of solids in color palette.

I started with the crosses and just made a batch. They were a lot of fun once the strips are cut - and easy. I saw the technique on Simply Quilts. Mary Ellen Hopkins demonstrated "Hot Cross Buns". Easy peasy. You make strips all the same width - let's say 2". Sew three together ABA. Then cut those into strips the same width, again 2" then sew the B color strip between two of these ABA's. Simple but really powerful.

I made about 40 of the crosses. Then I cut a load of solid and print squares. Then I started arranging. This is one of those carefully-placed random patterns. Tried to not put two crosses, two prints of two too similar colors next to each other. Mostly worked. Now the top is hanging on my wall and if I look closely, I see the weak spots - but all in all, I'm really charmed by it! A few borders, including a border of strips of scraps. All it needs is another black border, thin batting and flannel backing and it'll make a super cozy lap quilt.

Like I said, I'm just charmed by this quilt. I love that I didn't labor over it. After I got over the fact I would'nt find the flannel prints I wanted, I had fun with it. I'm thinking of doing another "random" squares quilt with a collections of Asian prints I've got languidly waiting in storage.

*Oh, wait I did make a quilt in high school. But not as much design and sewing as this baby. That was white cotton squares with images painted on them with a black cotton borders.

08.12.04
In May 2003, I finished a flannel quilt top. My first finished top. Made from 4 pairs of adorable Old Navy flannel pj's for Christmastime (bought on clearance post-holidays two consecutive years); balanced out with solids squares and plus sign blocks that reference the gifts in the baby blue print.