Pinwheel baby quilt - part 1: The front Panel

I recently spotted and fell in love with the Mon Ami charm pack by Moda. I often find patterns or colours I don't like in a charm pack which puts me off buying, or using (there is a stock of at least 4 charm packs at the back of the cupboard somewhere). But there isn't a fabric I dislike in this pack.

Inspired in my local quilting shop I decided that I didn't want to just go with squares but instead challenge myself with something a bit more effective.

I decided to go for this pinwheel design.

I started by cutting all the squares in the charm pack in half diagonally, so that each square gives you 2 triangles. For a quilt this size you actually only need to choose and cut 18 squares from the charm pack. I then cut some 5" strips of cream and then cut these into 5" squares and again cut these in half diagonally, to give 2 triangles. 

I set myself up with my machine in front of me, a stack of white triangles to my left and a stack of patterned triangles to the right. I then worked my way through the pile, taking one cream triangle and one patterned triangle and sewing them together to make a square.

With a lovely pile of now squares, I set to with the iron - this has to be my top tip! Ironing really a makes a difference!!

 I then experimented with laying these squares out to form 2 by 2 squares.

 Once I decided on the layout, I stitched the squares together in pairs.

I then lined the seams up to complete the 'bigger square'.

 Here again I got the iron out - press the seams to prevent bobbling and wherever possible always iron the seams to the side where the fabric is darkest (e.g so they lie against the back of the patterns fabric rather than the cream) as this will stop them being visible through lighter fabrics. 
I then lay these 'big squares' out on the bed to get an overall layout I was happy with and then set about stitching the 'big squares' into 3 rows of 3, taking care to line up seams as accurately as possible.

Again I gave them all a press here - it makes lining seams up easier, and set about joining the 3 rows together to make the 'square' centre panel.

At this stage I took a little trip to my local quilting shop (Simply All Sorts), with the completed centre panel neatly folded in my bag to search for an appropriate border fabric. I settled on this pink with cream striped through it - All In A Day by Anni Downs – Peach/Pink Stripe.

 

I then added a strip of cream to each side and will finish the front with another round of the pink. 

To be continued ...

Keep you eye out for part 2 in which I will make the back piece and do all the top stitching detail.

 

'Finish it February', friends and Corner to Corner baby blanket

A bit more catching up to do...

 Friends
Since my surgery I have spent a lot of time at my local yarn shop/cafe. It's great you can sit and sip a cuppa, nibble at some homemade cake, crochet/knit and natter - Perfect!! I'm the kind of person who would be diven mad kept within the same four wall and so as soon as I was able I was in the wheelchair and up the road to WeKnit coffee corner - Find them on Facebook here. Or visit their online shop: weknit-youcantoo.co.uk Or check out the blog written by the fabulous Sue: WeKnitYouCanToo Blog Without everyone at WeKnit I think I would have gone stir crazy. As well as the yarn, coffee, and cakes the support has been fantastic - I can't thank you ladies and gents enough!
The chatter has kept me upbeat and busy with different projects - all of which will appear on here in good time.

Finish it February
One day at the beginning of February I was in the cafe and said something about wanting to get the Corner to Corner (C2C) baby blanket I started last year finshed. I had pretty much got half way and it was the daunting idea of the decreasing that had made me put it to one side. One facebook I made a comment about 'Finish it February' and wanting to finish all those projects I had put to one side mid way through or had brought yarn for but that sat in a bag or cupboard untouched. Without realising it I started 'Finish it February' amongst my fellow knitters and crocheters. Soon an event was created on facebook and photos and comments were being shared, projects being pulled from their dusty resting places. It was great to see everyone getting the satisfaction of finsihing pieces they had previously given up hope on or just lost the enthusiasm for.

The offending Corner to Corner (C2C)
The C2C technique is really rather simple, increasing to the halfway point (diagonally) and then decreasing to the last corner giving you a complete square upon completion. This was ideal for my first baby blanket  as I brought 2 balls of yarn and worked up using the increase to the mid point until I ran out of yarn on the first ball. This meant I knew there would be enough in the second ball to work the second half in decreases.

When finished I worked a narrow border of double crochets in a complimenting colour.
The yarn used for this project:
With Love DK by Woolcraft - colour Ocean 617
New Fashion DK by Woolcraft - colour Lemon 4385
Puchased here: weknit-youcantoo - woolcraft