Cake Mix Quilt - Blue

For a long time I have admired sampler quilts, especially the type made up of all different size blocks. When I made all those blocks in 2008, the goal was to make a quilt each month in 2009. Unfortunately, life got in the way and I am now revisiting that goal.

The advantage to having all those blocks (and believe me, there's still a huge stack of them) just sitting there ready is that making a quilt is not unlike making a cake from a mix instead of from scratch. I had never designed a sampler quilt like this before, so it took a little bit of planning. Here's what I did:


I pulled the blocks out my giant stack o' blocks that seemed to work with the blue/yellow/orange colorway, then traced out their dimensions on graph paper. It's easier to do it this way, versus arranging them on the floor, because you don't have to try and figure out seam allowances. I knew I didn't want to exceed a 45" x 60" quilt size, so I maneuvered my little graph paper blocks around until things looked about right. (Incidentally, for any readers wondering how I became so overly organized and "control-oriented", this is the exact way my father used to have me prepare to re-arrange the furniture in my bedroom. I come by it honestly, that's all I'm saying.)

Then I started filling in the blanks - there are always gaps in a quilt like this, and I filled mine in with strips of coordinating fabric.


I'm still pretty surprised with how flat it turned out. A lot of those seams are set-in, which I am far from expert at. Overall, I'd say that it's a little busy and not as cohesive as most quilts, but for a cobbled together blanket, I'd say it's not too bad at all.

As for the recipient of this baby blanket; I'm undecided. I have a friend out here who just had a boy, but she is a very stylish lady, and this might not be a welcome addition to her nursery. Maybe it will just get added to the stack of finished blankets...