Hello! Happy February everyone. This year seems to be scooting right along for me. I’m pretty sure a couple of other people I know are finding this month to be going rather quickly. My friend from Korea, Jessica, and her husband just had their first! She is an absolute doll. So, of course, a baby blanket is a must.
Jessica is a big cow lover and the pictures they posted on Facebook of the nursery had a lot of pinks and grays. I think you might guess what I came up with…yup, a pink and gray cow blanket.
Here’s what I started with.
Some fabrics I had and others were purchased over Christmas vacation back in the States.
Now to plan. I wanted there to be a cow in the lower corner with a star around it and for the quilt to be darker in the bottom corner then fade into light colors as it went up. After a few tries I liked the look of this plan.
I then counted up how many of each size piece were needed for each color and made a cutting plan. I needed 6 1/2 inch squares, 3 1/2 inch squares and 6 7/8 inch triangles.
Look how pretty they all are just waiting to be arranged.
Okay, now to follow the plan and arrange them on the floor.
The hole is where the cow will go. I wasn’t so excited about the brown I purchased for the cow, so that block was on hold for a while.
I think you all know how it goes from here. Little pieces get sewn together. Then those new pieces go together so on and so on until there are big chunks to work with.
Now onto the cow. I found a lighter brown that I liked much more for the main color. It is more of a deer color. The one I had originally planned on using was way too dark and it didn’t stand out very well from the dark gray back ground color. I also found a pattern I liked online. It’s from Sew Fresh Quilts on Etsy. She has so many cute animal blocks to choose from. Since it’s a paid for pattern I can’t pass it along to you. I can tell you that it makes a 10 x 12 finished block, so I had to add a piece onto the bottom to make it a 12 x 12 block.
From ironing, to cutting and sewing this cow took me over two hours to make! Brother even came in to check on me and to see if I needed anything. I’m sure I could have gone faster, but I really wanted to make sure it turned out. It is the Star of the Show after all!
I ended up using the darker brown for the horns, so I did get some use out of it. As you can see the horns don’t really stand out much. I’m so glad I waited to find a lighter color for the face.
Now big blocks were sewn together to make a top.
Then the layers were pinned together and sewn.
I pretty much just followed the lines of the blocks and traced the cow so that it could be seen on the back also.
And after an hour or so of hand stitching the binding while the cat and Netflix kept me company I had a finished baby quilt.
Look at that sweet little face. Only thing that would make it even better is if Baby could have a stuffed cow to go with it.
Oh, look! I found one!
While having a day out with my mom and oldest daughter I spotted this little calf and knew it needed to be added to the gift.
My kids and I named it Josie, but baby and parents are allowed to rename it.
What I’m liking about this quilt is that it can be easily adapted to any theme. Like Star Wars? Do grays and blues and change the cow to a wookie. Like camping? Do browns and greens and change to cow to a tent or a campfire. Like firetrucks, unicorns, baseball, ballerinas, dinosaurs… whatever your theme is just change the colors and the star of the show to reflect it.
I’m already thinking about my next baby blanket. I’m thinking blues and sailboats using this same pattern. I’ll let you know if it turns out. If it doesn’t turn out we’ve never had this conversation. Okay?
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