Josephine's Quilt Finish :: Just In The Nick Of Time

When I started this project at the beginning of February (Purge Quilt For Josephine), I thought I had all the time in the world to finish it before little baby Josephine made her appearance.  And realistically, I did!  I just didn't follow through with finishing it in a timely manner!

Josephine decided it was time to make her appearance on March 27th!  She is a beautiful little girl who weighed in at 7 pounds 7 ounces!  She has a head of dark hair just like Mommy, Daddy and little brother.  Her Mama is a little bit of a thing, maybe 100 pounds soaking wet...how she housed that little baby I'll never know!  This family is super good friends with my daughter (Britt is the God-Mother of their first child), and I wanted to make something special for them.

Josephine's Quilt
36" x 44"

This purge quilt made using the Strip Tube method (see earlier post) was fast and turned out to be a favorite of mine!  I can see making it using wider strips in all kinds of colors and prints!  A good pattern to use up some not so desirable fabrics!

I was at the burying threads and sewing on the binding when word came down this birth was on! Knowing there was no time to waste I blew through it in record time!



I decided to go with concentric circles again!  While quilting the circles, I tried to take in progress photos for a basic tutorial.  I will try and get that together in the next week!

I started with my first circle, tied it off and began the 1/2" lines.  Going 'round and round and round and round'! 



Eventually I made it to the end!  I used several different colors of thread for something different and besides, its all about scrappy!  The thread colors are white, orange, grey, yellow and blue.

You can see that all isn't perfect in the lines.  That doesn't bother me in the least.  This baby will spit up on it at the very least and besides...the crinkle effect comes into play after a wash and dry.

That issue has been taken care of!  Fun stuff happens with washing!



With a few pieces of blocks left over, I randomly pieced four together to make an even more scrappy block for the back.  It's been a while since I did a fun backing!  It's really fun and as always it's like two quilts in one!



Super close up detail!  Get your camera's out and play with shots!  You may get one amazing photo out of twenty, but it sure is worth it!



A little bundle for a little bundle!  I'm not sure when this package will be delivered.  She will be a little preoccupied getting settled in and being wrapped like up like a burrito to care to much about it for now!

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Purge Quilt ~ For Josephine

I'm going to coin a new phrase!  Purge Quilting.  Let's define that a little bit.  There could be a pile of undesirable fabric you really just want to use in order to be rid of.  Maybe there's a pile of scraps you accumulated and it's high time they come together as one.  Or even a pre-cut that has collected enough dust to be called a 'dust bunny'!

Purging myself from those situations have become a focus, nearly an obsession.  It's a good old fashioned cleansing of the soul!  Really, I may never eradicate myself from the bad juju fabric, but on those occasions when I do it really does feel good!  Hopefully it will all come together and turn out to be something beautiful!



I'm calling this quilt Josephine's Quilt.  She will be making her debut in a few months and I'm determined to have a quilt finished well before the big event.  

I inherited a Moda Hello Betty Honey Bun (1 1/2" x WOF strips) from my daughter years ago.  It was no longer a roll, but rather a pile of slowly unraveling, soon to be useless strips. It was a spur of the moment decision to JUST USE IT!

We all know it would be much easier to use said fabric if we had a plan at the beginning! Eventually that idea did come.  Strip piecing.  

In addition to the Honey Bun strips, I cut a few orange, grey, aqua and white strips in order to have enough fabric for each of the tube sets.



Gotta love mindless sewing!  As fast as my machine would go, I made sets of three strips.



Next you pair two sets and sew 1/4" on each side to create a tube.



This is so easy...you gotta try it!  



This ruler is really handy and takes the guess work out of cutting.  If you don't have one, don't worry...you can use a square ruler.  



Line the tip at the stitch line, make sure the ruler is straight...and...



Slice and dice!  Flip the ruler...and...



Do it again.  Depending on how you want your final blocks to look, I recommend that you do not mix the blocks.  



You will need 4 blocks to make one bigger block.  I cut 4 blocks in each direction from my strip. 



You do have a couple options with your blocks.  You could 'throw caution to the wind' and go totally scrappy or you could go this way...



or that way...

Same 4 blocks, except turned creating a different center.



I have made a total of four 7" blocks!  I figure I have time before Josephine gets here, so I'll take my time.  Besides, I know I'll have to figure out a layout and most likely add additional blocks...blah, blah, blah!  Another rabbit hole I've fallen into!



These are really fun blocks to make and they look so cool!  Maybe next time I'll use wider strips.  Maybe even use my 'undesirable' fabric!  The possibilities!

I see a lot of Purge Quilting in my future!  How do you handle fabric you want to purge?  Do you use it, ignore it or throw it into a quilt?!

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