The Crafty Flamingo

For my very first official post, I present to you my very first official quilt.

Quilt, the first

AND my very SECOND official quilt!

Quilt, the second

Why yes, they DO look alike, I’m so glad you noticed! You see, I entered the quilting world shortly after a change in jobs left me with some extra spare time due to a significantly shortened commute.  My good friend Beth told me about her quilting projects and sent me a link to the pattern for the quilt she was working on. Well, I thought it not only looked cool but also simple and decided to give it a shot.  I was so excited about the idea that I decided to try and make TWO quilts right away as gifts.  After visiting a few different fabric stores, I began cutting. Soon, I had more strips of red and white fabric than I knew what to do with (and a few strips of green).

Not ALL of the strips I cut, but most of them

At this point, I was still optimistic about achieving my original goal.  How much time could a little throw quilt take to make, right?  I have since been enlightened, but we’ll get to that.  Now, it’s time for a montage of pictures showing the progress of the front of the quilt. <Insert montage music of your choice here.>

All the squares!

For the record, the time it took me to get this far was far longer than I had anticipated. My original goal of completing both quilts over the course of a few months was amended to completing ONE quilt in the allotted time and completing the other the following year. It was a great decision. I regret nothing.

Since the fronts of both quilts were essentially the same, I wanted to do something different for the backs. For the first, I tried creating an enlarged version of the intersection of the green strips.

I made it a little off-center for a “funkier” effect.

My goals for the back of the second quilt were to:

• Make it different than the first.
• Try to use only the fabric scraps I had instead of buying more.
• Keep it simple. The front was the main focal point, anyway.

Here is the result.

I was a little worried the design would be too boring when I first started planning it, but I actually really like how both quilts turned out.

As much as I love the string quilt pattern, I’m a little burnt out on it now. Before I make another one, which I fully intend on doing, I have a few other quilt patterns I plan on trying—plus a few smaller projects.

The second quilt relaxes after a long day.