Just-in-Time

Somehow, February completely snuck up on me, and so did the baby shower I am supposed to attend on Super Bowl Sunday; which, as I type, is later today. The shower is for a family friend, and I had all these grand ideas making a quilt, knitted blanket, and hats to give as my gift. Right.

I am lucky that I finished the quilt, just-in-time. It took me all day, but it is done and ready to be wrapped. This project did not go very smoothly.

It has been several months since I used this pattern, and I forgot that I adjusted the quilt squares down to four inches from five in order to fit on a 1 1/4 yard backing. I realized this when I pulled out the Star Wars flannel and compared it to what I had already started sewing together--the quilt top was too big!

Luckily, I have a rather large stash of fabric and could accommodate this mistake. The problem was that I really wanted to use the Star Wars fabric because my family friend is a huge fan. I even tried cutting four-inch squares, but determined that using the Star Wars flannel required a trip to the fabric store. In the interest of time, I decided to forgo the original plan and use another cut of fabric.

My troubles did not end there. Apparently, I really did want to use the Star Wars fabric, because by the time I had sewn seven of the eleven rows together, I found another mistake. This time, I mixed-up the quilt squares and was now one-short of a particular color, with no extra fabric to cut. The only solution was to remove a row from the top and one column on each side.

Now, the quilt top fit the Star Wars backing. Joy. Really. I know the top and backing don't really go together, but I think they (the parents-to-be) will get a kick out of the back of the blanket.

I also tried a new method of tacking. Usually, I machine-quilt the baby blankets, but it can be difficult since I have a very regular sort of sewing machine and no long-arm; or I hand-quilt if there is time. Once in a while I hand-tack using a stitch and a knot, but I don't really care for the look so I did some research on the internet and found a blog with new ideas for tacking, and pictures of crow footing.

I tried it out and liked this look much better that plain tying. In case you are trying to see what crow footing looks like, they are the purple stitches sitting on top of the seams, and look like the letter "v." Some people refer to crow footing as "fly stitch."