Hat on Top, Coat Below
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Ark Quilt II
October 13, 2004
I finished this baby quilt over the weekend. It’s the second quilt I’ve made for this family; the older brother got the first ark quilt, so named because the main fabric featured Noah and Mrs. Noah and pairs of animals and, of course, the ark. The main fabric in this one just has the animals and arks; Mr. & Mrs. Noah must be on break.
Like I did with the soccer quilts, I originally planned to use some of the same fabrics in this quilt as I had in the first ark quilt, but that didn’t end up happening–this focus fabric worked better with true blues rather than purplish ones–so the sibling ties between the quilts are the ark theme and the similar border layouts.
It’s been so long since I started this quilt that I am having a hard time remembering any of the details. I definitely had the top done before I started on the mushroom quilt. Because it’s such a simple pattern and uses so few fabrics (nine, eight of which you can see in this detail shot), the top went together pretty quickly.
I had a lot of trouble with the binding, mostly due to not paying close enough attention to trimming after I attached the binding to the front. I accidentally sliced through the binding at one corner, which made mitering rather a challenge. I ended up sewing the cut ends together right where they were, so that one corner is not like the others but I don’t think it’s too obvious–it’s not like the other three corners are perfect anyway. I also didn’t quite trim enough off of the batting and backing, so when I turned the binding to the back and sewed it down many spots didn’t catch right and I had to go back over them which looks bad but I really didn’t want to take it all out and start over. Since this is the second quilt in a row where I’ve struggled with the binding I wonder if I’m losing my touch. I wasn’t even working on this one late at night, either. I always got to do the binding for the group baby quilts because I was good at it; I’m sure not now. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that no one else will look at it as closely and critically as I do.
The baby’s dad works with me and was in his office when I dropped off the gift bag with the quilt in it. He certainly didn’t seem to notice the bad binding. He also told me that they put the baby down on his brother’s quilt the other day and the older boy, who’s now two, said “No! Mine!”; now he won’t have to share.
Next up: another baby quilt. I’ve already done the label for it because I wanted to make good use of the Printed Treasures remnant I used for this label, so now I just have to make the rest of the quilt. Per the label, I’ve got until the end of November. I can do that. I also want to finish the charity quilt I’m making for the guild’s community service project before the November meeting, but I’m really starting to no like those blocks so I don’t know when I’ll be able to muster the motivation.