The snail

 So my DD#2 has requested a quilt to cover her new king size bed (!)

 So we started by picking colors and fabrics

Equilter is really handy for this

I told her to pick 2-4 of every color she wanted 

and we would narrow it down from there

 

 

 

then we had to pick a pattern that she liked

 

 

 

This was the pattern I made for her first "big girl" quilt when she was 8

she also picked the pattern for this one

This was the first Quilt I ever made (not actual) Its crib size and was originally made of clothing scraps and the most hideous purple polyester geometric for the back because it was bargain basement cheep and all I could afford at the time.

It was wonky, barely square and I was really proud of it.

It was originally intended for her older brother 

but he received a quilt from my maternal grandmother that he fell in love with so this was handed down to the next child in line DD1 who rejected it in favor of a sunbonnet Sue & Sam

When DD2 came along this poor old quilt had been neglected rejected and sad but she fell for it and still loves it as a cuddle quilt.

It has been repaired to several layers of backing and many repairs of the diamonds as they shredded over time

So now to choose a new pattern

 There were several choices 

That I already had on hand in books and magazines

                                  They were nice buuuuut

 

                                               Until this one caught her eye but it needed 

something                                                                     

 

 more 

 

 

 

 

 

OOOOH!

 

This one!

 

Allrightythen

 

Now I need to plug all those colors in.

Remember those?   Pink, Grey and yellow? 

I ended up adding a turquoise for a contrasting pop because otherwise the colors blended and were rather distressingly boring to look at

 

With an emphasis on the yellow swirly pattern which was her favorite

so not my colorway

or my comfort zone

But Baby girl gets what Baby girl requests 

when she actually asks for something, so here it goes.

 

First I needed to make sense of the  pattern. That only took a week to design

 

 This pattern combines snails trail with Ocean waves and is definitely NOT for beginners!

What you see here is the final draft, of about 5 or 6 drawings, to plug in the colors the right way round.

I also made myself a chart for each block to keep them straght because the snail block needs 2 different directions to make the swirls go the right way!

Advice if you are trying this at home; charts and labels, are a godsend!

Problem one, I miscalculated the yardage I needed and was constantly having to go back and order just one more yard of something. *Ugh*

Problem two, I miscalculated the size of the triangles for the long diamond squares AFTER I cut out all bazillion of them *Ack!*

 Lesson; Make samples of everything so you can sus out the mistakes and correct them BEFORE you waste a yard and a half of fabric cutting it the wrong size. *Smackhead* 

I should know this by now after quilting for 30+ years bUt nOOOOO........ -.-     *sigh*

For this pattern there is a cutting ruler that saves multo time and ageta getting the long diamond triangles right, It's the creative grids 2 peaks in 1 6" triangle #CGR2P1. This makes life SOOOO much easier!

Also cutting the diamond triangles a quarter inch bigger so you can cut it down to the right size, helps to keep from loosing your corners, which you really do need to make this pattern look right

Here is one whole block of 4 snails, 4 diamonds and the corner block that make up one panel

 

And here is the whole shebang.

 

After much backing and forthing, ordering just one more yarding and changing this color for that oneing, because yikes that one is just eeew! 

 

The flimsy is done!

 

You can see the secondary swirlies here^

 

 Its definitely big enough though!

Big enough to hit the floor on both sides of my queen size bed and drape over the end!

 I made it big enough that I had to add the last 2 feet onto my quilting table to accommodate it and its still a bit big! by a foot. foo! -.-

 

Next step the back and then on to quilt the sucker!  I need Wine first.