My second-oldest nephew is my only nephew who does not yet have a quilt from me. Yet. I've been promising it for his birthday or Christmas for about four or five years now. I started Matthew's quilt three and a half years ago, not too long after I'd finished quilts for his sister's kids. Two of his sisters still need quilts of their own, and I have two more grown nieces who do not have quilts yet. And then I need to make quilts for my surviving sister and brothers... I am making progress when the list doesn't grow by two or three new babies per year!
I'd picked a quilt from Debby Kratovil's 2018 Block-a-Day Calendar, with replacement blocks from the 2017 edition. At the time, especially looking at the pastels in the calendar, I didn't want to make the Card Trick block because it wasn't masculine enough, in my opinion. Turns out it looks pretty awesome in Stonehenge.
I may still use a few blocks from the 2017 calendar, depending upon how big the quilt top will be when I finish the blocks from the 2018 pattern. For now, though, I'm happy with the way the quilt is turning out. Even though I got stumped once again by one of the rotary cutting diagrams. This isn't the first time one of the Block-a-Day patterns has made me wish I'd used Moda Blockhead patterns instead.
I may use up the booboo blocks in the backing. They did turn out nice. They are just too small. The last two times this happened to me with Block-a-Day calendars, both previous problems also were flying geese. To be on the safe side for the remainder of this quilt, I'm drafting my own patterns on paper before I cut fabric because I have only the one fat quarter bundle. I don't have enough fabric for more mistakes, although I am pulling a few pieces from Stonehenge precuts (different lines) left over from other projects for variety and because I'm almost out of the dark background fat quarter I've been trying to use for the background.
I'm also using my own color schemes for some blocks because I got this wacky idea when I began the quilt that working the blocks light to dark, center to edge, might look pretty awesome. I have one yard of one of the darker fabrics in the fat quarter bundle I initially thought would make a decent backing. Now I'm wondering if it might work as sashing, although it might be too close in hue to the dark block backgrounds. I'd been auditioning stash Stonehenge strips left over from other projects, but there isn't enough of any leftover strip color for a whole quilt. I've also considered doing a fancier sashing because Matthew seems more appreciative of detail than any of my other nieces and nephews.
I’ve even thought about making a wide border to use up all the leftovers when I’m done with the blocks. It’s fun to play around with options, and I’ll probably have even more fun on my design floor as I finish more blocks.
Linking up with Alycia Quilts.
