Robot Block Party - Day 5

Well, I didn't think it could be done but I have the front of the quilt complete! I received the fabric last Monday and 7 days later I am ready to start assembling the quilt. The great thing about this pattern is that if I was in a real rush I could have sewn it faster, but I took my time and worked on one piece a time. I'm hoping to get out and purchase the batting tomorrow, and depending how late the trick or treaters come I might get a chance to start assembling the quilt. At this rate I am hoping to be finished by this time next week.

Robot Blocking - Day 4

I'm not sure if today is Day 4 or 5 but since I didn't sew yesterday I'm going with 4. So today I finished sewing all of the blocks for the Robot quilt. There are 14 blocks in each of the 3 designs, and with the addition of the top and bottom scrap pieces I should have a 48x64 quilt when I piece it all together. It may be the fact that I have not done much sewing recently that I have energy to work on the quilt OR the fact that this quilt is extremely easy to put together but after 4 days I did not imagine that I could have all of the blocks assembled ready to piece the quilt top this weekend. I'm already getting excited about how great it is going to look. And with the extra fabric I have left over I am planning on making a personalized pillow with the new baby's name, I will have to wait until after the birth to finish that project. But I have to finish the quilt first, one project at a time.

Stripping - Day 3

Strip piecing a quilt is amazing! Piecing all of this fabric together is such a quick way to make a quilt. I still have to cut out the squares and sew my diagonal squares together but I'm thinking that I might need to buy my batting this weekend to keep my momentum going. I'm not sure how much sewing I'll get done the next few nights, since I have to work at my actual job, but I have a great feeling that I'll get this quilt done before the baby is born.

Cut It Out Robots - Day 2

I'm not sure why quilters get such satisfaction out of cutting up full yards/metres of fabric, only to put it back together again in a completely different pattern, but I am ecstatic with the progress I've made in 24 hours. After pre-washing, drying and ironing all that fabric last night it is interesting to see how little space it takes up now that it has been cut down to size. You may notice that some of the pieces of the quilt are still in strips, so technically it isn't completely cut out but since 2 of the 3 blocks in this quilt can be strip pieced I will be waiting until after I piece it together before cutting out the blocks. I won't give away the rest of the technique, so there is something to look forward to on "piecing" day. I made my first rag quilt for Sophia when she was around 8 months old and I cut the entire quilt out with scissors, I couldn't cut all that flannel in 2 days let alone 2 hours. I really have to thank Joyce for suggesting that I buy my OLFA rotary cutter and mat only 4 short years ago. The time I have saved was worth the price!

Robots - Day 1

When I got home at lunch today and saw my parcel tag on the door I knew that my fabric has arrived. A couple weeks ago a girlfriend asked me to make a quilt for her soon to be arriving nephew. It seems like I've been buying a lot of boy fabric recently so I thought I would switch things up a little and not use flannel. I searched online a week and a half ago and found this adorable cotton fabric from Robert Kaufman, Robot Factory by Caleb Gray. I wanted to choose a fabric that would take a long time for a boy to outgrow; actually Steve wants a blanket out of this fabric so I know it will last a long time!

I picked up my fabric on the way home today (even before I picked up the girls) and was excited to see that it is as adorable as I thought it would be. I chose to make the "Toddle Time" Quilt, by Carlene Westberg.

So like I was saying today is Day 1 of the project. I prewashed all of the fabric and I am hoping to have it all dry and ironed tonight. I'm not sure how long the quilt will take me but I'm planning on documenting my progress. Wish me luck!