I Hurt My Finger

There is a little boy's birthday right around the corner. And while the little boy is away during the day at baseball camp this week, I started working on his birthday quilt. You might remember the birthday quilt I made for Lauren a few months back. Turns out everyone wants one this year. I am happy to oblige actually... this designing a quilt thing is really fun.



I started a few weeks ago with a sketch of what I wanted to make for him. I love "stacked coin" style quilt designs. Those are the ones with lots of stripes sewn together, usually with a solid color field for them to float on. Check it out, there is a whole Flickr Pool dedicated to stacked coin quilts. For my design, I decided on something a little different. Leave it to me to find a way to not follow design rules, right? HA! Anyway, I decided to turn the coins on their sides. Maybe there is a name for this out there already, but as I am not an avid quilter, I know not what it is. I also decided that there would be no sashing, and I want big fields of a print. A big block of sorts in the rows of stacking. I can see it in my head, and I think it is loverly.



I asked my little boy what color he wants his quilt. Yes, he knows I am making it. There is no way I could work on something of this size without him knowing. His request was for orange and black. Hmmm... interesting combination. However, not likely, sorry. I did find as much orange as I could, and there is several black and white prints too. But, the color artist in me wanted blues too and some browns. Though not exactly what he requested, I think he is gonna love it. It is so bright and cheerful... wild and crazy... how could you not love it?

Monday, I started cutting the strips according to my directions I came up with and although I breezed through pre-calc my senior year of high school, my math leaves much to be desired. My brain doesn't work that way. It is much more visual. Just hand me a block of fabric and I will get the pieces out of it that I need... don't make me plan ahead. I was able to figure out though that I need 100 strips that are 9x3.5, 70 at 9x2.5, and 40 at 9x1.5, plus 10 pieces 9x18 to get ten rows that are about 68inches long each. Did that just make your brain hurt? It did mine.

Speaking of hurting!! Ugh and grrrrr.... I cut my cutting short on Monday (LOL, yes, pun intended) because the blade in my rotary cutter was dull and it was eating my fabric. Tuesday I set finishing the cutting with a fresh blade and... damn it... I sliced my finger. I sliced it good. It bled for about 9 hours, through at least 6 bandage changes. "Kerry, you need stitches..." you say. Ah, if only there was a skin flap to stitch back on!! Ugh. I called my best friend in VA and emailed her photos of my sorry pathetic left index finger, she is surgical nurse, and she told me how to bandage it and said there wouldn't be much a doctor could do. So, now I sit and type with my finger perched in the air and a giant q-tip like bandage protecting my poor hurt finger. It is both comical and painful.



I persevered though, and got 7 out of 10 rows sewn yesterday. I hope to finish the other three today and start the backing. My goal is to start the stippling by Friday. His birthday isn't until the 29th, but I want it done before then. July 29th already? Where did the summer go?

And for those of you who can't get enough of me... pop into Watch Me Create for a new post on something I have spent the past few weeks working on.