The epic quilt.

Oh. My. Gosh. This quilt took so much effort. But it was so worth it. I got the idea from a sewing conference. Then I got the idea to do the same thing on a large scale.

 

I liked the concept of the color bleeding over and making the circles look complete. I just had to figure out the logistics on a large scale. So I put together a mock-up. 

This is my paint version of the front and back.

I told grandma and she sent me these few fabrics to start with. 

 So I found the same fabric line at a local quilting shop here. So I got the other 22 fabrics I needed. 30 fabrics and 37.5 yards of fabric.

 The colors worked so well together. The whole of them made me feel so happy.

 Then I cut them into 10" squares and 5" squares. The large squares served as the front and small squares were put together to create the back of each square.

 The I laid them out in groups according to light/dark and by row.

 It took me 35 hours to put the back blocks together. I laid them each out and put them together each row, lights and darks. It took quite a bit of brain power.

 Then I hard to iron each four patch with the seams open. I need a new tool for that now. That was lots of tiny hot work. But no burns!

 Then I took my 9" round stencil and traced 240 circles. There was a total of 240 patches. That means I ironed 4,800 inches of open seams. This project took miles of thread too.

 These are the backs to the blue squares.

 

This is all 240 matched up front/back patches. 

 After tracing all the circles, I sewed around each one. That was 30" around each one. So at this point I  had sewn 12,000 inches.

Then I trimmed them all around the edges with some very heavy left handed ginger pinking shears. My thumb was bruised for a while.

After that, I to do the most heart-wrenching part, and cut a 4 inch incision in the whole part of each circle. That was hard. Then I had to turn them all right side out through the cut. I had to stick something in there (the end of a paint brush) to get the rounded seams pushed out as far as they needed to go. Then iron them all into perfect 9" circles. Lots of time at the iron. Are you catching a theme here? Lots of time...

 240 circles wrong side out.

 240 circles turned right side out.

 240 circles ironed right side out and in the correct piles for each row.

I put each circle into rows. light/dark alternating. This is where the logistic part from above was so crucial. 

 

All 15 columns with the right block in the right place with the right patch on back. 

  

 After I put each square together along the straight line, the scalloped part then had to be sewn down, creating a flower look.

 The middle section.

 On the bed.

 The whole quilt. My floor isn't quite big enough.

 I think I accomplished my goal of having each circle look like it is completed by overlapping. This is where the logistics of the back side came into play. It is actually the back side of the patch next to it folded over it.

 The back looks so cool. 

37.5 yards of fabric 

30 colors

240 squares

4800 inches of ironed open seams

33,800 inches of thread over 16,900 of seams

7,200 inches of pinking shears cut out

240 stenciled circles

Turned into one quilt with 150 hours of sitting at my sewing machine. 

One amazing quilt that I love. 

Any questions?

Two quilts...

When we went to the birth mother panel they all talked about gifts that the
adoptive couple gave them. They each got something that really meant a lot to them. A couple
got jewelry and some got quilts. My mother in law was there and liked the idea of quilts. She
sews and my family sews - between the two families there have been many quilts made for
others. So I went to the fabric store and looked through some quilt books with my mother in
law. We came to this conclusion:

This pattern
-
With
these colors.
We
tried to keep it gender neutral because we don't know what we will get first. We could prefer,
but isn't the surprise part of the fun? It maybe is early but in the event that we have little
warning about placement, we will have a gift ready. The best part is how we are going to
involve everyone. I will be doing the applique for all the hearts (yes, I will sew 55 hearts
on by hand, but it's about love, right?). My mother in law will piece the top of the baby
quilt. My mother will piece the top of the birth-mother quilt. My grandma Budge will bind them
both (because she does a wonderful job) and I am enlisting the help of my grandma Arave for
help with the embroidered flowers that come out of the tops of the hearts. They will
essentially be the same quilt, with more borders on the birth-mother's, and only one small one
on the babies. It's a good way to pass the time. I'm quite excited.

This brings me to another point. A question I'd like to put to
you all. Maybe I'm jumping the gun, but I'd rather be over prepared than under. What sort of
preparations would be appropriate? What am I justified in purchasing and when? Daniel says I
can shop furniture sales after we get approved. What do I do to keep from getting my hopes up
too high for a baby so soon? We aren't thinking there's a chance until probably next summer.
If it happens sooner it's a surprise. Once we reach a year and a half, I might start to worry.
What are the ways in which you prepared for your baby, knowing or hoping for one?

Thanks for any input.