quilting.

so i have been wanting to learn how to quilt for a while now.  two of my cousins quilt (as does their mom), and i really like the idea of multiple steps coming together to form a project (but each step feels like a mini-completion in itself).  anyway...their stuff is ridiculously good and inspiring.  and i realize that i will probably not achieve their level of mastery with the craft (i'm too a.d.d. with crafts to really perfect any one), but i think i should be able to make a couple here and there.

to that end, i am taking a class and making a baby quilt (how convenient).  baby quilts are nice because they are crib size and don't require a giant wall or table to piece together.  a normal sized table will do just fine.  last night was the first class where we cut and pieced all our blocks.  next week we will back and stuff and bind and all that.  the pattern is very very simple - it's just a series of rectangles, assembled kind of like bricks.

anyway...the point of my writing about this is to discuss how insanely difficult picking fabric for a quilt is. for this one, i needed 5 fabrics - 4 on the front, 1 for the back.  i am actually pretty decent in normal life at looking at things and understanding when/how they go together - particularly colors and shapes and whatnot.  apparently this skill does not translate to quilting for me.  i couldn't find pictures of all the fabrics i ended up with, but let's just say this baby is going to have quite the colorful blanket.  the front is a multi-colored stripe pattern, two different polka dot patterns (pictured), and this really cute pattern that has elephants and camels and pyramids on it.  the back is the couch pattern pictured below which is COMPLETELY random, but i love it.

so, the front is done.  i'll post a picture of it once i get home.  i can't decide if it's awful or if i'm totally in love with it, but either way it will be cozy and warm for our little winter baby.

edit: i remembered i had a scrap of the camel print in my car, so here it is too!

this one gives you the idea - the dots are actually the same size as the one below.  

fabric #2 - the dots pull out colors from the stripes and the other pattern (or at least, that was the goal)

the backing.  super random for a baby, but how awesome are these couches?