Family of Three – progress

This project is progressing along nicely.  The giraffes have heads and necks!  I am hoping that because the upcoming weekend includes a Stat holiday, I will have time to give the giraffes bodies and legs.

Ever since I saw the “Family of Three” pattern in the January/February 2016 issue of Quiltmaker magazine, it has been on my list to make.  The quilt is the creation of Canadian quilt designer, Lorna McMahon of Sew Fresh Quilts.  

This project seemed like the perfect first quilt for our grand-baby expected in September since the nursery is a jungle theme and the giraffe is my favorite African animal.

Warning:  There are a ton of tiny pieces to be cut for this quilt.  I spent most of yesterday at our guild’s sew in cutting out the pieces.  The smallest pieces are 1″ square.  Thankfully there were only a few of them.  However, there were 215 – 1.5″ square pieces that had to be cut!  You need to be organized as you cut out the pieces.  I had strips of paper labeled with the colour of the fabric, the number of pieces that I needed to cut, the size of the cut piece on them, and the corresponding letter assigned to that piece in the pattern.  As I cut out each piece, I pinned the piece of paper to the top of the stack of pieces.  The time taken to organize the pieces as you are cutting will pay off when you go to sew the units together later.

There are some printing errors in the magazine.  If you check the Quiltmaker website, they list the pattern corrections as: 

Family of Three (Jan/Feb ’16)

The cutting dimensions for the F patches in the unit 4’s and unit 5 are 1″ x 5″.

The cutting dimensions for the N patches in the unit 15’s are missing. The measurements for N are 4-1/2″ x 9-1/2″.

In the assembly diagram one patch was mislabelled. In the fourth row of leaves from the top, the patch labelled “S” (to the right of “T”) should be labelled “R”. In the cutting list, the dimensions and the amounts for R and S are correct.

The light orange patches labelled “L” on the small giraffe are mislabeled. These two patches should be labelled BB. The cutting list under Light Orange Solid should list 6 L’s (cut 1 1/2″ x 8 1/2″) and 2 BB’s (1 1/2″ x 7 1/2″). 

We regret the error.

Family of Three – Assembly Diagram

Although the assembly diagram makes this look like an intimidating project, if you take the time to lay out the units on a design wall and refer to the assembly diagram as you piece the different units, you will have the top completed in no time.

I elected to make the quilt with Kona solids in the colour scheme that the designer used:  Cedar and Sunny for the giraffes, Cactus, Peapod, and Grass for the leaves and ground/grass, and Capri for the background.  There is a small amount of Medium Gray required for the eyes, nostrils, and feet.

I spent today piecing the first 3 rows of leaves.

Family of Three – first three rows (leaves)

I am very pleased with how the pieces are fitting together so far.