A start AND a finish!

I woke up on Saturday morning thoughtful.  I had been dreaming about quilts (don't we all?)

I wanted to make my boss a quilt for his 30th birthday, but I really wasn't sure what it should look like.  So to Pintrest I went.  (That's my link, by the way.  I strongly encourage you to go checked out my boards. Quilting and sewing and crafting and cooking and hi-l-ar-i-ous quotes. Just putting it out there! But back to the story...).  So I was on Pintrest and wandering over all my pins. And I toyed with a couple of options, but none were really manly enough for my boss.

And then I saw the Carpenters Wheel.  I had pinned this months ago!! It doesn't look like much as a diagram, but I felt it could be a winner... And it looked simple! I mean the picture tells me exactly what I would need!!

I can't copy in the actual photo I used, sorry! It's still a carpenters wheel though.

So I grabbed a paper and pen and tried to work out some quilt maths... Quilt maths is always my downfall. I think I just go round in circles, adding a quarter inch then taking it away again.  I end up very confused.  I eventually thought that I had figured out the sizing for two blocks (one to be a test run, to make sure I could make it, before I embarked on a giant, full size quilt).

 

So I had a plan!

Meanwhile, I had agreed to puppy-sit for my sister, so I collected her dog and put my dog in the car and headed to the park. This was a big chunk out of my sewing day, but for the love of puppies, I took it on the chin. Who am I kidding, I volunteered to take the dogs.

Side note - Have you met Henry yet??? The world's cutest Beagle puppy!! He's the newest member of my family.  I love his little face!!

Henry says "Hi"

 And My sister got got a puppy a few months earlier - Lucy the Great Dane

Lucy, the Great Dane

And so Lucy and Henry had  play date this weekend. OMG I have never seen a pair of dogs fall in love so fast.  They were so hyper active we had to separate them at one point.  So they sat on either side of the glass door and watched each other.  But they had fun.  Although it is super hilarious to see my little tiny puppy with this giant Great Dane.

But back to the real story - Two hours and two very tired dogs later and we got home. I dumped the dogs with my husband and ran to the fabric shop.

I was on the hunt for boy fabric - blues, greens, blacks, greys - something that screamed "I'm a man! And I don't take no s***".  I came home with this...

So pretty much the opposite of manly.

I just wasn't feelin' it for any of the blue/green fabrics on offer. But these pinky tones caught me, and before i knew it they were in my trolley, and then the cutting table, and then I was sneaking into my house trying to hide the bag...

So Saturday afternoon saw me supervising two playful puppies and happily measuring and chopping and watching Buffy in the background.  *heaven*

By the time I got to bed, I had all my fabric cut, my hsts made, and my strips pieced. I was 50% of the way through turning those strips into a finished block.

Sunday I finished making the block and then stood back. What to do with it? I think it needs plain borders so that the binding doesn't cut off the points (check it out! I have points! They''re not perfect, but they're points!)

 

And I wanted to bring it up to proper cot size, so I cut some of the pale pink and added that to two sides. Yes definitely better.

And at this point you'll discover why I should never be left alone to do the quilt maths.

My top was now too big for the little cot size I had planned. 

What to do, what to do??

 

It could be lap size, but I actually like a bigger size for on the couch, so maybe single bed... Yes, single bed. I can totally easily bring this up to single bed size. So the cutting began.

But I had a second. Issue.  My quilt top is now bigger than the width of fabric. So now I have to piece the extra material... Ahhh! I'm not skilled enough yet to do this without it looking like a disaster. I don't know what to do!!! And then... The epiphany. Scrappy(ish) strips. That way you can't really see my crooked seams. And it breaks up the giant negative space that would show off my lack luster quilting skills.

Have you ever noticed that these cute little improv bits take more time and thought than the standard, follow the pattern way?

But I like it. And what I like best is that I can proudly boast I finished a quilt top in a weekend.

Carpenters Wheel Quilt

You should see the giant smile on my face. I'm as pleased as punch.

E xx

Oh, And here are a couple of photos of my helper. He looks good with pink!!