Monday, August 7, 2017

A Quilt for Marty

My brother is having some health issues and he's stuck in a skilled nursing/rehab center until after Labor Day. I'm making him a quilt. It's what quilters do, right? Not that he needs a quilt in Arizona in August, but he could use a quilty hug.

I'm keeping it simple and using the Four Corners block from my book Cut and Shuffle Quilts. I pulled a palette from stash of browns, russets, dark blues, and light greys, many from last month's splurge at the FQ sale. I cut squares and strips and quickly made a pile of Block Mamas, light ones and dark ones.

Nice contrast; these will make good Four Corners blocks. 

Over the weekend I got all the Block Mamas cut, shuffled the parts, and made 30 blocks. 

I'm pushing to get this quilt finished as quickly as possible. You know what they say, "Haste makes waste" and "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get." I've been keeping company with my seam ripper over stupid things like having fabric wrong sides together or attaching the wrong parts together. I've made hundreds of Cut and Shuffle blocks, I should know what I'm doing. Yeesh! 

Marty's into motorcycles so I went searching for a backing fabric with a motorcycle theme. I found a whole collection of prints featuring Indian motorcycles, but Marty's a Harley guy. Then I found the perfect print: Biker themed, but not brand-specific, and the colors work well with my palette. In fact, I added a few more blocks in light orange to brighten up the palette a bit. 

I started laying out the blocks on the wall; I can see that I need to move some around. I'm also adding one more row and I need one more dark frame block. I'm glad I added the light orange to brighten everything up. (pardon the bad lighting)



7 comments:

  1. Great quilt and perfect backing! And don't you just love your seam ripper? I find I make the most mistakes when I'm tired. Hope you rest up and get right back at it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I found your blog through Moving It Forward Monday. My father was recently in a rehabilitation center for a couple of weeks. The residents' rooms that had quilts in them somehow seemed more friendly. Your quilt will really brighten his day and his room. Happy sewing! Andrea

    ReplyDelete
  3. very nice has a masculine feel to it

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a perfect backing print! Adding in the light orange really pulled it all together. I hope that you can get this done quickly without too much more fussing with the seam ripper. I know that hurry up and undo paradox all too well. Sending loving thoughts to you and your brother.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You are right.. this is what quilters do! This will be a great quilt for your brother while recuperating and mending. It's masculine, bright and fun!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow you got that one put together quickly, even with the help of your seam ripper.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love those blocks, and the backing is perfect! The quilt might not get him home sooner, but it should definitely improve his outlook!

    ReplyDelete