Little Quilts

So, I have a job now. Which is a good thing; it means I can justify my fabric spending, plus it gets me out of the house a bit. It also means I have less time for sewing, but that's a necessary sacrifice. And even though I'm not too psyched about being a productive member of my community again, especially for a minimum wage, not-super-stimulating sort of employment, it does have two very exciting, unexpected benefits:
1. I'm getting internet at home! Now that I have my own means of paying for it, I can override Brian's refusal to get it on the grounds that it's overpriced and a huge time suck. And yes, I know that it's both of those things, but I don't care right now, because it should help immensely in my blogging and etsy-ing endeavors.
2. The dessert bakery I'm working at now (I know, dessert bakery; I should be buying as gym membership rather than internet service) runs a small arts and crafts gallery out of their wedding cake salon. On weekends it's open to the public, and displays only work done by employees, which group now includes me! I'm going to see what small crafts I can whip up to put up for sale - maybe some coasters, potholders or bags? A small quilt might be fun, just to have my work out there for people to see. Anyway, I have to work a bit on this, but updates to come!

So while I've been spending most of my time these past few weeks working and eating delicious cake, I managed to finish one little quilt top.

Drunkard's Path Baby Quilt (sounds kind of awful, doesn't it!)

I made this as part of the Drunkard's Path quilt along, and I'm pretty pleased with it so far. I wanted to do a simple version, thus the choice of just two solid colors rather than prints. My grandmother has a bunch of antique quilts, including one really beautiful drunkard's path version in white and red, and I love the clean, classic style of it. Maybe I'll get a picture next time I visit her!
Now that I've pieced this top, I don't love how the values of the blue and gray are so similar- they kind of blend together a bit. On the other hand, this quilt is being made for a baby boy, and I guess babies might prefer a soothing pattern? I don't really know.
I auditioned several different patterns before settling on these sort of circles:

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While I was cutting, sewing, and trimming all those blocks I vowed never to do another, but now, seeing the finished product, I would love to have a full size version. I even bought enough fabric to make it in a nice bright orange and white (as a gift for my husband, as he loves orange). I'll have to think about whether I want to go through that all again!

I'm hoping to sew up a backing and quilt this guy soon, as I think its intended recipient has just about been born! A friend of mine from college is having her first child, and I'd like to surprise her with the quilt. It's the first baby quilt I've made, and I love how easy it is to maneuver with such a manageable, small size!

On another note, I was thrift store shopping last week and couldn't resist buying this baby for a mere $3.99:

It's machine pieced, I think paper pieced onto the batting, or some kind of felt, and then quilted with ties onto a piece of flannel. The fabrics look fairly old, but I'm not sure what decade they are from. It's beautiful work though, and I'm trying to decide what I want to do with it. I may take the layers apart and add some borders to enlarge the top, then requilt it to make a larger quilt all together. It would make a great baby quilt, but I don't have any babies, and I'm afraid it might be a bit weird to keep it around until I do! Stay tuned, but first, check out this detail shot:

So pretty!

Anyway, my next post should be from my own house, hopefully in time for WIP Wednesday, which I've gotten sadly behind on!