Part 2: Mini Quilt : Panda-monium

The number of pieces in this pattern -- 26 sizes, totaling pieces is 79 (I think) -- is a little overwhelming. And I don't have the greatest history of keeping things straight when I follow a pattern this complex -- but I am not going to let this pattern intimidate me.

My experiences with Hazel Hedgehog did teach me I do better if I have this complex a patter printed off instead of trying to keep track of everything on the computer. It also helps to read the entire pattern before you start. Maybe that's obvious... but I usually like to start working right away. So for this mini, I made myself slow down and take my time.

Those are all the pieces (I hope!) cut and labeled. It's still a little overwhelming... but unless I made a mistake, I should be ready to proceed with caution.

-- much later --

Some of the top assembly was actually accomplished back in July, the night before I went to the hospital to have the baby, but most of it happened in very small, one or two seams at a time chunks during tiny baby naps.

I thought I had been very careful, but this afternoon proved that I need some work on that level. Or I suppose we could put some blame on pregnancy and/or post-pregnancy brain... There were a few issues, some with cutting (I was a few pieces short, and at least one was the wrong size by a significant part) and of course the usual issues with imperfect seam allowances. Ugh. I need to make permanent guides on my machine!

But --all imperfections managed and included, I finished the little top at last!

Yes, this was a lot of work, and a lot of pieces, but I kind of want to do it again. Someday when I have a lot more time that is! It was very time consuming for me, and the kind of block that requires a pressing station near by, but I love my wonky little panda.

Part 1: Mini Quilt : Panda-monium

This is another post that I intended to share in July and never managed to come back to hit 'publish' on. I thought about deleting the time-specific comments, but I kind of like having the record of how things were going there towards the end of the pregnancy. For what it's worth, this was written on a Wednesday night and I checked into the hospital on that Friday morning. So, you all can ignore those comments -- because baby is already long here -- but indulge me in my moments of sentimentality. 

Okay, I know I'm supposed to be finishing up projects I already have in motion.

Or possibly getting ready to have a baby. You know, like any day now?

And I really was going to work on something. Or sleep.

But then a picture of the Fat Quarter Shop's free pattern called Panda-monium came through my feed...

Seriously, check out how cute it is here (links through to the free pattern on the Fat Quarter Shop site) and here (a blog hop example I found via pinterest, seriously, adorable version).

How can I resist?

So, since I was supposed to go to bed early last night, I only let myself look at fabric choices -- and I'm only going to let myself use stash fabrics.

Obviously that's more greens than I'll need for the few tiny pieces of bamboo... but I thought I'd start with a short list and narrow it down as I work. Two of the greens were used in the Hazel Hedgehog mini hanging in the nursery -- and the coordination might be nice. That tiniest scrap of green is leftover from one of the co-sleeper mattress covers, and it could be a sentimental inclusion as well. Then again, I might need something really dark for contrast, and well... the other one is just cute and has never been used (it does have little silver butterflies though, so that might not work in such tiny cuts). I like options.

I would really like to use the brighter/bolder orange as the background -- but I don't think I have enough. I'll measure in the morning, but if not, I have more than enough of the lighter orange. Or I might do something a little off-pattern and use both since it looks like part of the background is just a 'frame' -- I could do that in one and the rest in the other. We'll see tomorrow!

Um... unless I go into labor...

It's now September  October. And I'm still picking away at this mini quilt, but I'll share where I am next time I can carve out enough moments to get on the computer! 

September Wrap Up and October Goals

Um, woah. Is it already half way through October? Whoops.

I did little to nothing in September. Actually, I started a project that is now back-burnered for a while, and I managed to read one book ("The Viscount Who Loved Me" by Julia Quinn) -- unless you count children's books! Otherwise, I think I managed to survive and that's enough of a win right now that I'll take it with joy.

October is looking to be more of the same, minimal progress and minimal crafty success, but I am already one book down (and part way through several others).

The local quilt group is back into the swing of things, but I won't be working on my own projects there for a while. We've challenged ourselves to make a gift/donation quilt by Christmas -- which sounds totally doable right now (it's only October, right?) but is going to seem overwhelming and impossible before we're done (or so I fear).

I need to set aside some time to work on the test blocks for that quilt today, and if I'm very careful I might make enough more progress on the mini quilt I started the week before the baby was born that I can share some of it... so I'd better stop typing and get to sewing!