Time to start a new quilt!
Today I started a new quilt for my grandson. He is eleven and into creating things electronically. We cannot keep up with all he makes. After he outgrew his baby quilt, his sister make him one with fire trucks. He’s definitely outgrown that by now and really needs a nice bed quilt for his room….
Robert Kaufman Fabric
With no quilt stores near where we live, I searched on fabric.com using words like electronic, maker, computer. This is what turned up! I purchased 8 yards with absolutely no idea what I would do with it… but I wanted enough to also have some for a pieced backing. The only matching fabric to it was in teal and turquoise, so I bought a few yards of that too.
I knew he had a blue room but forgot it was more a sky blue than a blue green and the matching fabric definitely would not work. It’s hard not having quilting stores near where we live as the online options rarely show the true colors. So now I had to tilt my colors more towards the sky blues. Then I had to figure out the design. I do not like using commercial patterns and much prefer to design my own. I thought you might be interested how I go about figuring out the design. In this case, I loved the pattern of the fabric and thought it would make a wonderful bed covering. My first design following the lines and circles of the fabric. Just the design, no real thought as to size or how I would make it.
First grid drawing
Next I put the design onto grid paper, using one square = 1 inch, but as I worked I realized my design was too small.
I redid it using a 2” per square and that made more sense. I decided I would work in strips of 4” with the lines at 1/2” wide. Using the 2” grid it became easy to translate the design into pieces although I had to make sure to remember to add seam allowances.I still hadn’t decided what to do about the circles or even their sizes…. But that could wait. I drew in a border, but have not totally decided to use one. I tend to make decisions by putting my work onto my design wall and seeing how things are working out.
I have just begun sewing and will save those photos for next week. There are always so many future design decisions when you are working without a plan!