One week before Paige's birthday, I decided she needed a quilty present. She chose the fabric and the pattern last year -- I had some, and some I ordered from Fat Quarter Shop -- but I never felt the need to make the quilt. Until a week before her birthday. I always get fabulous gift ideas just before they're "due" -- of course!
So, I was able to cut out all the fabric in one night, after the kids went to bed... which meant I had a little less than one week to complete a twin-sized Swoon quilt. Luckily, I had already figured out that I could make a twin-sized quilt with only 6 blocks, sashing in between, and a 5" border all around.
I worked so hard! Tuesday I made one block.
Wednesday I made one block.
Thursday I made two blocks.
And Friday I ALMOST made two blocks at once -- but I messed up. Can you tell what I did? Argh.
By the way, did you notice that some of the blocks are whole pieces of fabric? Check out the piecing on this block -- the squares are squares because that's how I pieced that part of the block, instead of having two rectangles. And the red parts that are NOT part of the center star are whole, too -- I even figured out how to cut out everything from one fat quarter each, just like the original pattern calls for. I made it this way once when I needed to keep some polka dots intact. I love it this way, and I don't think I'll do it the other way again!
And Saturday I fixed the two "broken" blocks in just about an hour.
And then I finished the whole top -- just in time for Paige's birthday! (I didn't get a picture of the top finished, but this is the layout.)
Of course, I decided to do a pieced backing... Oh yeah, didn't I mention that I always planned the back to be pieced? Because the front is so plain... So, when I got backing fabric, I simply order a half-yard here and a half-yard there. But the plan I made was pretty unimaginative. And, to be frank, a little bit ugly. So, this Monday (the day AFTER her birthday) I worked with the fabric I had, and came up with this little plan:
