Day 5

Is it "two steps forward, one step back"? Or "one step forward, two steps back"? Either way, that is what happened this morning... I looked at the play side of the quilt when it was drawn to scale and was not happy with it. The white squares were too big! I decided to go through and re-size it using 8" squares and 1" color strips. This did take a lot of time, but in the end, I think it looks MUCH nicer this way!

The blocks won't be overwhelmingly large to the baby when he is playing on it, and there is a lot more "blue" space, so the cars in the white squares are no longer competing with the cars in the border. It is less congested, and when it hangs over the bed, the design will be on top of the bed and the border will hang off the sides of the bed, looking more like a quilt/blanket.

Yes, this meant having to resize all of the car graphics in the white squares and sending new documents to my little sister. (I truly hope I have not confused her!) Because they are smaller, I was able also able to put 2 cars on each sheet, meaning Lisa will only have to use 6 sheets for this part rather than 12. The bad news is that I already ordered the second set of sheets and it is (once again) too late to cancel them. If nothing else, she has a few spare sheets now in case something happens, like the color ink cartridge running out of ink...

The stores are open again, so I went to Michael's and Walmart to pick up a few additional supplies: an iron, a sewing machine - one that has multiple stitch options, a few scrap fabrics with designs to practice the applique, "Color Catcher" (which is to be used when washing the colorful fabric to trap the colors so they don't bleed on to the other fabrics - thanks for the tip Mom!), light-weight Heat N Bond (web fusing to use instead of having to pin the small pieces when I applique), a washout fabric pen (thanks for the suggestion Lisa!), and a few stick pins just in case... I guess I am a little bit sicker than I thought! After walking through the stores, putting items in the cart, and then unloading them, I feel like I just climbed Mount Everest!

Here is a picture of the new supplies. The sewing machine looks just like a jigsaw!!! I will have to learn how to use it this week, but I doubt it will be that difficult to figure out. :-)

This is turning out to be a much larger (and more complicated) project than anticipated (what else is new?). But I am hopeful that it will all work out!! Until then, all I can do is sit back and relax for a few days as I wait for the fabric to ship to Lisa's house, for Lisa to print the cars onto the fabric, and for her to then ship them back to me. Stay tuned!! :-)