Block Party

All the blocks for my first quilt are finally finished! They're made of five fabrics from Tanya Whelan's Ava Rose collection. I can't get enough of this fabric - nursery bedding perhaps? I like that the pinks are a little more red, and love the robin's egg blue. There are also several greys in the collection, although I didn't pick any of those for this quilt. I do still have to choose a fabric for the backing - maybe grey polka dots?

The quilt instructions advise turning the blocks all different ways to give the quilt a "scrappy" look. I tried that, but prefer having all the blocks lined up.

It's almost finished - now I just have to:

• sew blocks in each row together
• sew rows 1 and 2, and 3 and 4 together
• sew rows 1/2 to rows 3/4
• cut and sew inner border (pink with white polka dots)
• cut and sew outer border (white floral)
• cut fabric for binding (not sure which fabric)
• order fabric for backing
• buy batting
• take front, back, and batting to Virginia (friend from work who knows someone who can do the quilting and possibly the binding)
• wash and dry
• nap with finished quilt!

Okay, so maybe I'm not almost finished after all.

Maybe Baby!

We're expecting! A baby. Apparently those Lady Tools are also working. He/she will be here in June.

I started knitting a baby blanket for said baby, inspired by SouleMama's baby blanket. It looks so soft I knew I wanted to use the same yarn - Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton. I chose the bone colorway (I like that word - colorway - although I'm not sure I'm using it correctly). I looked around for an easy pattern, but the Project Linus All Purpose Knitted Afghan pattern that SouleMama used was the "fast and easy" one I needed.

I also discovered that this is the same yarn suggested for Alicia Paulson's Tiramisu Baby Blanket. That one is crocheted, and although I know I could handle the main blanket the edging might be a bit tough for my novice crochet skills. If I have any leftover yarn, I think I'll start it and see how it goes.