Pedals, Polka Dots, and Patchwork

This weekend was restful. It included lots of down time, lots of events (berry picking and a picnic, anyone?), and lots of sewing somehow all at once. A nice full break. 

The sewing time was spent with these lovely fabrics I acquired on our trip to Portland over the last long weekend we had, Memorial Day. I still wish we had a shop like Cool Cottons here. I would be there every week. I digress.

These fabrics are destined to become the second picnic quilt/wedding gift of this year. The happy couple is energetic and serious about their bikes, so I think the bike fabric Dave picked out coupled with the bright colors we put together will be a fitting gift for them. I may have gone a little overboard on the polka dots, but I just love them. There is also a cute rocket print in there on red. Bikes and rockets, who could ask for anything more?

I spent my evenings last week sketching out ideas, calculating block sizes to maximize my fabric usage, and even drafting a quick mockup in powerpoint. Finally this weekend the cutting started! I made quick work of the fat quarters slicing them up into squares for 9-patches and 4-patches. This quilt is going to be a patchwork party. 

The block assembly went really fast; these are simple simple simple to make. Chain piecing also helped. I used the trick of pressing seams in opposite directions rather than open so I could butt them up against each other and get those corners nice and aligned.

I thought a bit about doing a more complex block, but I really want the fabrics to stay intact for the most part. I've got dots, rings, dashes, lines, and ovals, and I think (hope) the humble square will let their distinct geometric features come through and play off one another.

By Sunday afternoon I had all of my blocks sewn and pressed. I am really liking how the blocks all look, individually. I'm hopeful that once they are sewn together the picture in my mind will match the final product. Some of it is already sewn together and laid out on my floor. I'm not totally happy yet, but I think I've come up with a solution. More on that soon. 

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