Doll Quilt Swap 14 - and new traditions.

It's 8:00 on Friday morning. Friday. One of my only days to sleep in. Well, those days are over I guess. Allie and I have started a new tradition. Friday morning I wake up BEFORE her (ugh). And once she's up I make breakfast and coffee. She sits next to me watching cartoons (It's The Magic School Bus today), and I sit next to her and catch up on email stuff - for just a few minutes. So far it's working and she's happier. I guess maybe Friday's can be my one morning to write a blog post? 

I'm still working hard at work and working hard at home to find a couple nights a week to dive into my sewing. It's not an easy thing - I miss my 3am sewing sessions! 

The past few weeks I've been pushing myself to finish my Doll Quilt Swap mini. Today is the due date for it and I just finished on Weds!! My swap partner had very simple requests (one sentence). After a bit of stalking her flickr I realized that her style is pretty similar to mine. She likes Anna Maria Horner and Tula Pink, she likes saturated colors and low volume texty backgrounds. With that I got started sketching. 

My sketches were all over the place but ultimately I went with this layout because I wanted to sew these blocks. I've been looking for an excuse to try these arrows. 

I used some favorite fabrics and I'm a little surprised that I managed to use so much of that Sweetwater newsprint fabric (it's OOP and I love it). I knew my partner would love it too though, so it's worth it!

Now for the details. The cross stitch blocks were made following Alyssa / Pile O' Fabric's tutorial. They finished at 2". The arrows were pieced freely (no pattern, just playing around) they finished at 3.5" x 16". The total quilt measures 16" x 21". 

I'm mailing this little quilt to my partner today and I sure hope she loves it!!