Sewing and Stitching, January 2024

I did not end up doing any kind of sewing for Christmas presents.  In the big picture, I decided it had been token-type of stuff (something small for each grandchild) and that they wouldn't even notice it's absence.  So I used the time I would have spent sewing to do other, more pressing, things.  Because apparently being sickish with some sort of headache/fatigue/jaw pain for four days running the week before Christmas was pressing.

This month, however, is a different story.  Because it's time to get started on a baby quilt for grandbaby #6, who will be making an appearance sometime before the end of March.  This one will be the third for DD1 and Honorary Son, and is a boy.  Interestingly enough, that makes the birth order of my grandchildren (so far): girl, boy, boy, girl, boy, boy.  Probably a coincidence, but my mind notices patterns, so I'm kind of intrigued by that fact. 

I already know what pattern I'll use in the quilt.  It will be 6" stars in novelty fabrics alternating with 'solid' squares of the feature fabric.  That is the 'theme' I chose when I made Faline's baby quilt and therefore became the pattern for all of DD1's children.  (All of DS1's kids got 6" squares set in diagonal stripes, and I have a whole different pattern in mind for either DS2 or DD2's future offspring depending on who becomes a parent first.)

What I haven't decided yet is which exact fabrics I will incorporate into this new quilt.  There need to be cats, tractors, music notes or musical instruments--all of which are in both Faline and Buck's quilts.  I also want to include soccer balls (Honorary Son played soccer all through high school) like in Buck's quilt.  And I have some Pokemon fabric that I'd like to use somehow, as Honorary Son is still a huge Pokemon fan.

I'm just not quite sure if the Pokemon fabric would be too overwhelming--and drown out the other novelty fabrics--if I use it as the featured fabric in the 'solid' squares.  Unless I fussy cut it, I don't think it will work as fabric for the stars, and even then not that well.  This is going to take some sketching up in colored pencils in order to better see which option is less chaotic. I'll know by the end of the week which way I'm going to go.

You, on the other hand, will have to wait until February's Sewing and Stitching Update to find out.  Don't you love a cliffhanger?