Thursday, January 31, 2013

My New Project for January -- Gavin's Quilt

You may remember that in this post I decided that I'm going to participate in the 2013 NewFO Challenge.  I'm not only planning to complete UFO's this year, but I'm also going to start (and hopefully, but not necessarily complete) twelve new projects this year - that's one a month.  

My January project is a quilt for grandson Gavin.  For years he has been completely into all things mythological.  I bought a book of paper-pieced mythology creatures, "Spellbinding Quilts" by Maaike Bakker. 

























He studied it a while and then sketched out the quilt he wanted me to make.  He even told me what colors he would like used for each creature and the background.  

























This isn't the first quilt Gavin has designed for me, but more about that another time!  

I had to get Hubby to help me with the math so I could get the pattern pieces enlarged.  This, in case you've wondered, is what $73 worth of enlarged paper-piecing patterns looks like!  

















Oh!  I was shocked that I was required to sign a waiver before I could get these copies.  It seems I was violating the book's copyright by making more than one copy of each pattern.  The quilts in the book have multiple dragons and knights and castles, so you must have multiple copies to make any of the quilts.  Plus, the copies you make get stitched through and then torn off into tiny little pieces.  I am totally into obeying copyright laws.  I never knowingly violate them.  But I cannot figure this one out.

Well, then the fun began!  Manipulating fabric for normal paper piecing is bad enough, but when you enlarge the pattern 270%.....

 .....it makes for all kinds of wonderful wackiness!

The B I G Centaur came together well, but I have to admit that it took me two solid days of sewing to get that part finished.  

Thankfully, I noticed a couple of spots where I had used background fabric in the wrong place and was able to make corrections before stitching the components together. 

On to the owls.  They were even more work since each individual owl has 31 pieces in it.  Yikes!

I think it took a little more than another day of sewing to construct all four owls.  

So, this is what Gavin's new quilt is looking like so far.

He's pretty excited about it, and even though I absolutely HATE to paper-piece, I'm thrilled with how it looks so far.  I do have the four Hippogrifs for the corners almost ready, and I think the towers for the side panels should be a little more simple than the previous pieces.  I had hoped to have the entire top ready this month, but life (and being sick!) got in the way. 

I am linking up to Barbara's NewFO Linky party.  Can't wait to see what everyone else has been up to!

14 comments:

Kate said...

Wow! How cool! What a great idea executed wonderfully!

Lynette said...

Wow!!! That is really amazing. How cool that he chose the elements and colors and everything.

Dar said...

You rock girl. I am amazed at Gavin's and your creativeness and the speed at which finished those paper piecing blocks. This will be one really cool quilt. He's a lucky guy to have a granma like you!!

Gloria said...

Gavin's talents are ever increasing! I am new to Hippogriffs, so it was necessary for me to investigate. Of course, I was eagerly anticipating a Hippo-type creature... but, NO! After the initial shock & dreadful disappointment wore off, I became intrigued and did further research. That's when I discovered the following, which combines Gavin's two loves (cooking and mythology). So, I had to share. BTW - a truly amazing quilt! And a truly amazing Grandma! :)

http://hippogriffcookbook.com/#

Pattilou said...

Love seeing your creative progress. It's looking so good.

Barbara said...

Oh what a fun project!

Tami C said...

What a wonderful grandmother you are! I think it's just adorable that Gavin designed his own quilt. Your progress is looking great!

Marjorie's Busy Corner said...

This is just fantastic!!

Kathleen said...

This is really great. It is wonderful for him to be so creative. I hope that the creativity keeps going. Kathleen

Mimi said...

That is going to be pretty impressive. Love the fact that he has designed it himself. Grammas will do anything, won't we? for our grandkids. can't wait to see more!

Anonymous said...

Creative indeed. Great ideas and grand work.

Gisele said...

This will certainly be an original quilt, love the fact that Gavin designed it himself. He has a very talented Grandma!

Irene said...

What an amazing project and your creativity just astounds me! What a wonderful gift and keepsake for your grandson.

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

I just added that book to my wish list at Amazon. I'm just loving paper piecing.