Fabric vs. Fiber

I've been itching to quilt lately, but my inner sloth has vehemently resisted the effort required to set up for sewing at home. This leaves me with way more knitting time than quilting time.

But, the home conference softball season is here. We play a single day game on Friday, and as soon as that's over, I can high-tail it out to Pasadena for the last few Friday Nights at Bearly Stitchin.

When I got in my car post-game on Friday, I was pretty concerned about the Hollywood Fire, but in one of those traffic anomalies that can only be found in Los Angeles, I sailed from Westwood to Pasadena in an hour. AN HOUR. On a normal Friday, it takes at least 90 minutes.

Once I got out to Pasadena and procured my sandwich from Whole Foods, I zipped on over to Bearly and got cranking on my project for the evening, a baby quilt for a kiddo who is scheduled to make his appearance in about two months.


I bought a few patterns and the X-Block tool at the Road to California show. Then, that Saturday, the hubster and I field tripped out to the Fabric Patch and I bought the kit for this quilt.

I have the "scrap" pieces sewn together for the pieced border, but when I had the blocks and small border sewn together at about 9:45 on Friday night, I looked over and saw this fabric from the Moda Sunshine line sitting on the shelf. I immediately ripped through the train of thought saying "This is a baby quilt. It is going to get dragged in the dirt and puked on. If I do the pieced border, I probably won't be able to finish the top tonight. If I do a plan fabric border, I'll be done tonight!"

Easy decision. 3/4 of a yard later, I had the top done by 11:30 (including snack time) and it's now sitting in my crate waiting to be taken to the Cotton Shop to choose backing flannel. The binding is even cut out, pieced and pressed. I'm hoping to sandwich and quilt next Friday.

The most fun thing that was finished on Friday night was this quilt:


Anne had been working on this for a while and got the quilting finished and binding on that night. It's the Lucky Stars pattern from Atkinson Designs. I have this quilt started in purples and greens. This inspires me both to finish that quilt and possibly start a new one with my batiks stash and either a white or black background. Awesome, eh?

I have a dentist appointment this afternoon. I was up at 5:40 to start my week early, so I'm hoping I don't fall asleep with a hygienist's hands in my mouth. Wish me luck! Otherwise, I'm hoping to cruise the Beach Knitting sale this week, get that backing at the Cotton Shop and be ready for my two home games this week.

Best part of the whole week? No game on Sunday. Three cheers for Easter, my last day off until the season is over!