A CHEATER'S QUILT

Somehow, I got it in my head that with a new baby on the way, I had to make a quilt. A quilt for him to snuggle up in, play on and make forts out of. I guess I've entered the nesting phase? And while we're waiting on our bedroom to get sorted before we can start on the nursery, I might as well spend my nesting efforts on projects. 

I've seen so many beautiful modern quilts around, with solid colors and geometric patterns, and they're so inspiring. But I've never made a quilt before, and I know they're a lot of work and quite time consuming to say the least. And believe it or not, I have some self-insight. I know I often get carried away making plans for big, elaborate, time consuming projects that would turn out awesome if only I just got around to finishing them. But I get bored. I want to start something new. My morganite cardigan is still in my knitting basket next to the couch, and this crochet hexagon blanket is still embarrassingly unfinished (though I do occasionally drag it out and add to it, and it's a lot bigger now!). Not to mention my list of project ideas that haven’t even begun to materialize. And when I asked my friend who recently decided to make a quilt how she was finding it, she replied that it was "bloody hard work," and that "the cutting of the squares takes so long!" So I was quite skeptical that making a quilt was a good idea for me.

But then I came across the concept of cheater quilts. They're genius. Only two bits of fabric with batting in between. No spending ages trying to decide which fabrics to use. No cutting. No fretting over uneven pieces and no wonky alignments. And after seeing all the beautiful ones Kate from SeeKateSew has made, I was sold.

So after much humming and hawing and trying to decide which one to go for, I ended up with a yard of this one from Spoonflower. I love the color combination and I decided one yard would be a good size to start with. I've never used Spoonflower before, but must say I was quite impressed, both price and delivery speed! The fabric arrived two weeks after, and I headed to my local fabric store the next day to pick something to back it with. My original plan was to back it with a simple black and white repeating pattern, but after spending an hour and a half in the store and not really finding any that I liked, I came to the somewhat boring conclusion that I don't really like most patterns, and ended up with a nice solid charcoal cotton. I love how it turned out against the blues, that it's not very busy, and that the white thread contrasts with the dark grey. 

Don't get me wrong, this blanket is far from perfect and full of flaws, but I kinda like that too. And it certainly took me longer than an hour to make, but it's a bit hard to stick to your schedule when your mom drops by halfway through for a chat and a cup of tea. But I love the results and can't wait for it to get put to use!