Quilting in the New Year

I've just discovered I fit into a category: Modern Quilter. This is an actual term. A glance at my list of crafty bloggers there on the side will give you an idea of what that entails. Mostly non-traditional forms, creative patterns, lots of bright colors with solids. And the celebration of a prevailing aesthetic of "wonkiness." Yay! (this means my inability to sew in a straight line will not deter me!)

For the past couple of years, all I want for my birthday is a gift card from the fabric store. Since my birthday is in late November, this gives me a chance to stock up on supplies to keep me busy through the holiday season. (one year I gave my parents handmade bathrobes and pajama pants and something like pencil cases for Christmas, thinking they would cherish gifts sewn by their daughter. I'm still not sure they realize I made them... they never said..)

This year, I didn't have a chance to buy fabrics until after the holiday, but I've blown through my fifty bucks, mostly in pre-cut quarters. I stacked them up with some of my leftovers from previous projects-- I like the spectrum! Oh the possibilities!

The local Jo-Ann's here is rather small and always packed, so just grabbing quarters gives me the chance to just grab a bunch of different bright colors I like and GO. And I got queen-sized batting. I'm excited. I am also the proud new owner of Boo Davis's Dare to be Square Quilting. I have a couple of cream and taupe fitted sheets that we no longer use, so I've had my eye on them to cut 'em up and work them into a quilt (I've also saved a lot of beloved pajama pants that I've worn literally to pieces...I'm thinking jammies and sheets used to make a quilt that I will continue to sleep under has a nice poetic quality).

I was initially going to make the "Does Not Compute" robot quilt for my first project for the new year, but fell in love with the look and name of the "Two Left Feet" pattern. So I cut and stacked the 304 pieces---
And started putting them together, one by one. This was mind-boggling because each of the 20 major blocks was TOTALLY different, but also because the colors of the one in the book were blue, gold, and brown. My dominant colors were red, blue, and "other" (green/yellow/orange). So for all the blue pieces in the pattern, I subbed in my reds. For the book's golds, I used my blues. This got REALLY confusing when I would look at a blue strip in the pattern and a blue strip of fabric in my hand and wonder what I was doing next...
But I made it through-- I think I started cutting blocks on Dec. 30 and finished sewing the rows together on the 4th-- and now have a great quilt top... that Zips won't get off of.

After I spread it out on the bed to take this photo, she parked it (as you see here), and then tuckered down and stayed there all night. Then all day the next day.

I'm glad she likes it. I worried when I was picking the colors that with all the red and blue and white, it would look patriotic-- but I think the blues are more mediterranean and the overall effect of the different fabric patterns is kind of Japanese. I'm going to use one of the taupe sheets and some leftovers to piece together the back of the quilt-- then comes the tedious sandwiching, machine quilting, and binding. I think I may do the pj pants mini-quilt before that happens. (to get back into the groove of quilting and binding before a queen-sized project) Hopefully before school starts next week!