Who you callin' crazy?

So here's the thing. I love quilts. I love textiles in general, but any large blanket really gets to me. I actually went to a textile exhibit at a museum on date. Best date ever (it didn't end up working out with the guy, but oh well).

So after some initial fears and insecurities, and realizing that no one was going to make me quilts, I decided to make my own. (Pics will be in a later post). My first attempt, was a lot like my other craft projects; decently designed and moderately executed. I get really impatient, and sloppy and while it is initially impressive that anything gets made at all, its often a rather "junior high" sort of result. Not that my very first quilt isn't on my bed this very moment, its just not anything a quilter would be even a little impressed by.

So now I am starting a crazy quilt. Its going to be an 8ft by 8ft blanket, bright, colorful and perfect for taking on a picnic.



This is the pattern I have drawn out. Each square on the paper represents a 4" by 4" square of fabric. I bought pre-cut fabric squares on eBay. I selected two patterns I liked and thought when well enough together. 4 packages of Botany, and 4 packages of Tweet Tweet. Each package comes with 42 5" by 5" squares. The squares will be 4.5" by 4.5" when I am done, due to the 1/4" seem edge that will get taken up when I sew the squares together. 1/4" taken from each side will shrink the squares. The part of the pattern that isn't blocked into squares are going to be solid pieces of fabric. Because the patterns are so varied and busy I felt that breaking up the squares with some solid lines would make the overall quilt look less overwhelming. I will probably use some brown calico, but I haven't decided anything just yet.

The black fabric they are sitting on is the fabric that will be on the back of the quilt. The black fabric was originally for another quilt... a terrible project that I have to completely start over on. :( The black works here, because it is a complete contrast to any of the quilt squares, but isn't too discordant. I wanted something that looked nice if I decided to use the less busy side of the quilt, and also wouldn't class with the main color scheme.




Because the two sets of squares are different (4 Tweet Tweet and 4 Botany = 336 squares total) are different some care does go into laying them out. As you can see from my pattern, there are large areas where there are many squares next to each other. Crazy doesn't have to mean ugly, so I carefully lay out the squares in a random, yet pleasing set.




After I lay out the initial block, I pin rows together. In this case it is 8 rows of 8 squares. When the rows are pinned together, I number them with a small piece of paper at the end. This makes sure the squares stay as I have laid them out, and that even if my bag tips over and everything spills out, I can easily assemble the block and start sewing.



After I sew the squares into rows, and sew the rows into a block, I will have the center part of my quilt!

I am resisting the urge to say "Ta Da!" It is not yet "Ta Da!" time yet. Soon though... soon...