Sherbet Pips Quilt

I first saw the Sherbet Pips fabric on Bea's blog and became fixated: I 'needed' this fabric! I thought it would be perfect for a quilt for Naomi. I've only completed a strip quilt so far, and wanted to try a 'real' pattern, and yet doable for a beginner. The Fat Quarter Store had just what I was looking for: the Winter Sherbet quilt kit using the Sherbet Pips fabric and Thimble Blossom's 'Piece of Cake' pattern.



The pattern was, as it's name implies, really easy to follow. Note that the original pattern uses non-directional fabric. Since some of the prints in Sherbet Pips are directional, my first tip is that before you start happily cutting away, you'll want to take the fabrics you selected from your layer cake and figure out which half of your blocks you want to be 'portrait' and which will be 'landscape'. Then cut the squares accordingly (Tall and thin vs short and wide).



My only other newbie tip is that one once all the blocks are complete I recommend that you lay them out according to how you want them to be displayed. I numbered them so that I knew which order they go in, but also for those blocks that had non directional fabric, I knew which way the block should be oriented when I sew them together. Besides, I find it fun to arrange, rearrange, stand back, umm, aah, rearrange some more until I find that most pleasing composition :)



Finally for the quilting I stitched in the ditch around the pieces in each block, and then stitched tram lines in the sashing. I like how the tram lines zig and zag around each block from the top to the bottom of the quilt.



This is far from perfect. And at times I was disheartened with it's complete lack of anything resembling perfection. But you know what, I love it! Flaws and all. I was telling one of the ladies at the local quilt store about this, and she said "Honey, have you not heard of the 30/30 rule?... If in 30 years from now, at 30 feet, no-one can tell then it doesn't matter!" I like this lady!



What's most important to me is that Naomi likes it too. She runs up, pats it, and exclaims 'NAAAHS" (Naomi speak for 'nice').

Wishing you a great weekend,
Sam xxx