Jett's Green and Grey Quilt

I love babies and I can't believe how blessed I am to have so many little bundles in my life right now...

Most of all, I'm super excited that my best friend and her awesome hubby are pregnant with their first baby and I feel so blessed that they've asked me to make the crib bedding for little Jett's room! Genesis and Brett are such hip, cool people (go check them out at www.thecrowdersgetcrowded.blogspot.com) and I absolutely LOVE their color scheme for Jett's room! A lot of people are all into this bright green and brown for nurseries right now...that's great, but Brett and Gen take great and turn it into AWESOME. They decided to pair that bright green with grey and I'm in love with it! Although, I have to admit, finding fabric for this project was more than difficult...it was damn near impossible. But after a full day of searching multiple fabric stores (shout out to Forsyth Fabrics and Lewis and Sheron Fabrics...y'all rock!), we found the four fabrics Gen wanted to use for the patchwork quilt and crib bumper I have the honor of making.

I've made a couple of quilts/bedspreads before, but nothing was quite as challenging as this (thanks, Gen...keep me on my toes. 'Preesh). Just for reference, it took me the equivalent of 3 lifetime movies, one "My Fair Wedding" and one "Rich Bride, Poor Bride" to get to a satisfying stopping point. That's 8 hours. Note to all those ambitious crafters out there: do NOT start this project after 4 pm. You'll end up staying up way too late. Especially on a work night.

If you would like to re-create my absolute awesomeness (which I totally hope you do), here's what you need (Warning: if you don't want to re-create this project but you want to see the final result, skip all this boring stuff):

• 2 yards each of 4 different fabrics at least 45" wide* (choose complimentary colors and patterns...or whatever you think will look good but definitely play with different textures as it makes a really cool end result)

• An awesome sewing machine (I recommend the Brother ES-2000. My wonderful mom did a great job a few years ago with this Christmas present! Thanks, mom!)

• At least 6 yards of plain cording.**

• Thread (duh.) -- I used Coats and Clark Dual Duty Hand Quilting thread in slate. I know I should have used machine quilting thread but I wasn't really paying attention. It actually worked out better than other threads have on my sewing machine lately.

• Crib Batting. I prefer all natural or 100% cotton batting since it's for a baby. Crib batting should be 45" x 60".

• Finally, you need the cat. Sure, she's not essential, but she makes the pictures so much cuter...

(You don't see me here...I'm not here)

So, let's get started!! :)

Cut each of your 4 fabrics into 11.75" x 15.5" pieces. You should have 8 pieces of each fabric in all. (32 in all...I'm pretty sure. Math + me + late night = disaster...)

Lay the pieces out into the pattern you want and start pinning the first line together. Repeat for the second line. Once you've got 2 completed lines, pin the seams together and sew those lines together. (Sorry I have no illustrations here...I was all caught up in getting this done and I forgot!)

Repeat this until you have 4 rows of 4 pieces sewn together. (in other words, until you have the front done).

(Hey, I think there's something under there...)

Repeat for the back. Pretty monotonous work. Once you get in a rhythm, it goes by pretty quickly.

(Look, mom...I'm almost done. I think)

Now comes the FUN part. Yeah. It's about as fun as getting a root canal. Or so I've heard. I've never even had a cavity (*patting myself on the back*). Note: You can totally avoid this step by picking cording that is pre-made or by using bias tape. Turns out it's a LOT cheaper to do it yourself though, but if your time is worth more than money, go for it. I'll opt for saving the bucks. PLUS, Gen wanted to use the pretty silvery fabric she chose as the cording.

What you do is cut enough strips of fabric (appx 3 inches wide) you need to cover the 6 yards of cording you'll be using for the edges. I needed 4 strips. Then, sew them together so you make one long strip. Pin and sew the fabric around the plain cording. Sounds simple, but it takes a while.

Then you're gonna lay your two sides on top of each other, right sides facing each other. Next, pin the cording in between those two with the "rounded" part inside the quilt sandwich. (pardon the silly expressions, it's late...)

Finally, place the crib batting you want to use on top of this whole mess of stuff. You are probably going to have to trim some of this because for some reason it's never perfect. Pin that on as well (just to clarify, I'm not adding pins on top of pins, I am using the pins I previously used to add the next layer...but y'all are smart enough to figure that out. I hope)

Sew it all together but make sure you leave an area open so you can turn the whole thing right side out.

Once you turn it right side out, you'll be able to stitch up the opening and reinforce where the individual pieces connect with a little x on each corner.

I had to do some small hand stitching in order to make everything look perfect, but it wasn't anything notable. Hopefully you won't have to do this, but if you do, it's not a big deal.

And there you have it! 8 hours, tons of blood, sweat and almost tears and one really great quilt! :) Have to say I'm pretty proud! Here's hoping Gen, Brett and Jett like it too! :)

*if you choose fabrics that are 56" or 60" wide, you really only need 1 3/4 yards of each. This also includes enough fabric for the bumper we'll work on later in the week...please don't ask me to do the math for how much you'll need for JUST the quilt. I have no idea and it's much too late.

**This is just the measurement for the quilt. I do know how much you need for the bumper too...but I'm not telling. (it's a biiiiiit more...)