I made a baby faster than this quilt.

I've been waiting for 15 months to talk about this quilt. In that span of time, I went to four weddings, got pregnant, gestated the baby for 37 weeks, gave birth, and spent 3.6 months raising the resulting baby. Stay with me - all of these things are tied together.

We went to seven weddings in 2010. The last wedding was probably the most romantic wedding I've ever attended, including my own. It was outside of Austin on a family farm. The bride and groom (one of our dearest friends) were married under an enormous oak tree, and we played lawn games, ate delicious food, and danced the night away under the stars. I can't remember a better night. The wedding was so romantic, in fact, that we came home and immediately got pregnant.

I don't make quilts for everyone, but Paul is, well, Paul -- a wonderfully smart, kind, hilarious, and stylish guy. Justin, Paul and I all met on the first day in our dorm freshman year, and Paul and I were close friends before Justin would even hold my hand. The boys were inseperable throughout college. I've never seen Paul as happy as he is with Allison, and I wanted to give them a really special wedding gift.

So I bought 16 colors of Kona Cotton and got down to business in August 2010. Their wedding was going to be in November - no sweat! I'd mail it off before we left town! But then life got in the way, and it takes a really long time to cut 560 rectangles and then sew them together (not to mention all the pressing - oh, the pressing!). So August turned into December and all of a sudden I was pregnant. Then I lost my mind.

Pregnancy brain is a strange thing. I was fine with math, but hell if I could remember where I put things, or how big I had originally intended this quilt to be. I just kept counting my pieces and recalculating every time I sat down to work on it (which wasn't often, thanks to the little Bean growing inside of me). Sizes ranged from a small throw (those were dark days) to almost King. In February, I had almost all of my pieces together when I discovered five missing colors. I cut more rectangles, recalculated, and promptly lost my notes. We were working on the house all spring, and my studio moved to the basement in June. I had the baby three weeks early in July. At that point, I hadn't even pieced all the strips together yet.

This quilt was finally finished on October 12, 2011. I took it to Guild the next night for show and tell, and then spent three weeks trying to a) find a box big enough for it and b) figure out how to get this enormous box and a baby and his stroller to the UPS store. Last Monday, I managed to get there five minutes before they closed and waved a relieved goodbye.

So without further adieu, I present to you: The Babymaker.

(For the record: It turned out just shy of Queen-sized, 20 blocks x 14 blocks. The pattern is "Plain Spoken" from Modern Quilt Workshop.)

I love this quilt. It was a pain to put together (I love Kona Cotton, but man, does it ever fray), and I wish it hadn't taken me so long. But it's a lot like a marriage. You have all of these pieces that don't seem to go together, and the only thing that gets you through the dark times (small throw? Really?) is blind faith that everything will turn out right in the end. And boy howdy, did it ever.

Pieces of purple

Gracie and I need a napping blanket. We like to nap on the bed, on top of the covers, but I don't have a blanket that's wide enough for both of us. She doesn't necessarily like to be under the blanket, but when she lays on top of it, she holds halfo f it down and there's not enough for me. This is kind of high-priority since fall is on its way and we love nothing better than to kill a cloudy afternoon in bed, reading and snuggling and sometimes squeaking her red ball.

This pack of Kona Cottons called - nay, screamed - my name many months ago and I simply had to have it. I've been picking away at it over the last two weeks - I'm not the kind of person who sits down and sews for hours and hours, but rather I come and go a few times a day - and the top is almost finished. I'm making Plain Spoken from The Modern Quilt Workshop in the "napping" size. I'm really liking how it's turning out, but I'm finding that I'm a little more particular about my seams lining up than I used to be, so I actually took a seam ripper out this morning and re-sewed a row so everything lined up better. I don't know who I've become and I'm not sure I like it.

I chain pieced all the blocks, which really kept things moving for me. I'm the kind of person who needs the push of just one more row or set or color. See how straight (and nicely pressed) my seams are? That's entirely because of the quarter-inch piecing foot.

It's pretty much just like your regular sewing foot, except it has a little guide on the right side that sticks out and gives you something to butt your fabric against. No more wiggle-wobble while trying to see the 1/4" mark on my machine. The foot can only be used with your needle in the center position, which took a little bit of getting used to, but now I'm not sure how I did without it.

I'm still trying to figure out what color to use for the back. I know I'll be using the very darkest purple for the binding, and I'm wavering between gold and green for the back, or maybe even one of the purples? I just don't know. I'm not really interested in a print. Any suggestions?