Tea and Roses

Date: 
23 September 2010 to 12 October 2010
Recipient: 
Kendal
Pattern: 
2x+2y squares tiling
Level of completion: 
Completed and given away

This is another quickie baby quilt -- quickie because this little girl was just born, and babies don't stay babies for long!

This quilt is an odd combination: the gentle florals of Liberty fabric with the unusual patternings of mathematical tilings. Okay, it's odd to anyone else but ME. Here's the pattern I'm using to make this quilt:

This is an all-squares tiling I spotted in Tilings and Patterns, by Grunbaum & Shepard. To my knowledge, it is an old, old tiling.

Note that these are the finished sizes of each piece; you'll need to add seam allowances that work for you.

For Tea and Roses, x=1 and y=2, so the finished pieces were 1', 2', 3', and 6'. If you had bolder and splashier prints you could also use 1', 3', 4', 8'.

Blog entry about this quilt: domesticat.net/quilts/tea-and-rosesTiling pattern for Tea & Roses

['Tiling pattern for Tea & Roses']

I got word early this week that one of my stepbrothers' wives had had her baby, and shock of shocks, a girl at last! When my mother remarried a few years ago, she came into the marriage with one grandson; Paul came into the marriage with FIVE grandsons. Needless to say, the prospect of a granddaughter has everyone excited.

I'd talked it over with my sister and with her auntie Mary Beth**, and Mary Beth gave me the tidbit I needed: no pastels! My original idea had been to use the fabrics not used in Lucy-Goosey for this quilt, but guess what ... not just pastels, but pink ones!  So those were right out.

I wasn't sure what to do until Mary Beth mentioned that baby Kendal was named after a British town her parents liked -- once I heard that statement, I knew what to do. I headed straight for my Liberty prints, those quintessentially English Arts and Crafts fabrics, and flipped over to my little private photoset of interesting tilings. I'd been wanting to try one of the square tilings, because I knew they'd be easier to piece than some of the insanities I've been doing lately, and the design was set.

British fabrics, intense colors, all squares all the time!

My only questions: what to do about the edging? Do I make more (partial) repeats of the pattern and take the tiling out to the edge of the quilt, or do I edge it with some leftover white fabric so the full pattern repeat is emphasized? Do I run the tilings straight vertically, or do I cant them to one side for a more quirky look?

Dunno, but I'll have answers by the end of this weekend. I got the squares cut out last night, and I have every intention of finishing piecing the quilt by the end of this weekend, because I have -- ahem, cough, dial tone -- SECRET PROJECTS I CAN'T TALK ABOUT going on.

...and, yes, it IS killing me. I'm having to keep my mouth shut. Don't worry, I'm compiling pictures. All will be revealed in due time. It always is. You can safely assume that silence here should be interpreted as "I'm working my ass off."

** I should note that if we're going to be utterly pedantic, Mary Beth is technically my ... step-sister-in-law? Could there be ANY less flattering relationship name, really? We're in the weird situation of many adults now: my mother, and her father-in-law, both outlived their spouses and remarried. So, suddenly, I have extra siblings! Kendal's the first grandbaby born since Mom and Paul married; it just seems right that I should spin up a quilt or two. :)

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