A baby girl's quilt

HST Diamond Quilt

*** Based on many requests ... I have also added a pattern for this quilt in my shop, which you can find here *** The rest of this post retains the same information as always ***

This is for a little girl who will be arriving in a couple of weeks to join her parents and big brother.  Her mom had picked out this darling bedding from Pottery Barn Kids.

I made this quilt for her big brother, Dillon, almost three years ago.

I had signed up for Rachel's Curved Class and had completed two of the 4 assignments (here and here), however, after vacation, job hunting and a real mental block after a failure with Drunkards Path ... I must admit I gave up ... btw ... Rachel did a GREAT job ... the failure was me ... definitely not her.

Lavender and grey diamonds from HSTs

So in the end, I decided to go with the theme that's on the bumper.  I had seen this asymmetrical design on a hanging quilt in my LQS and figured that it could work for this one as well.

It was quite simple to put together, and it was pretty much started and completed in a weekend (love those!).

Pieced back

The back is pieced for a little visual interest.

The quilt by the numbers:

• Finished size after a wash, 52" x 42"
• Raw squares cut to make HSTs = 6.25"
• 40 cream
• 20 lavenders
• 20 grays
• Back pieced from front material + some Kona Ash.
• Quilted in a relatively tight meandering

This is the first time that I have used 100% batting (Warm & Natural).  I have been using 80% cotton.  I don't know that I really noticed any difference in the finished quilt.  I did find it slightly easier to manage as I was laying it out and basting it -- but that might have been the brand and packaging rather than the cotton content of the batting.

Feels good to have a finished quilt under my belt again!  I will be giving this to momma tonight (see ... deadlines do help) as she is taking me out to celebrate my birthday (which is tomorrow ;-) -- remember this from last year ... can't believe it has been a whole year!

Have a great weekend everyone ... I am off for a wine tasting weekend with my husband!

All the best
Lisa

When is it "bait and switch"?

I've been away from quilting for about a month ... with vacation and a variety of other competing efforts -- including my 1/2 marathon training!

Now a moment for a vent ...

Feeling pretty good about my Confetti Quilt and the Wall Art I created from Rachel's Curves Class -- both comprised of solids.  So I headed off to JoAnn's this morning to buy some Kona solids for my newest effort.

I left the house armed with the following coupons:

1. 25% off your total regular-priced purchase (valid April 5-7)
2. 50% off any one regular-priced fabric (valid April 1-7)
3. 20% off your total purchase (valid through April 28)
4. 40% off any one regular-priced item (valid through April 14)
5. 25% off your total purchase regular priced purchase (valid April 5 - 7)
6. 40% off any one regular priced fabric (valid April 1 - 14)

They came to me from various sources:

• #1 & #2 were put into my bag when I was in the store last week,
• #3 was a postcard mailed to my house,
• #4 is from the periodic flier that they send to my house,
• #5 & #6 were from JoAnn's iPhone app

Unfortunately, the only one I could have used today was #3.

You see, JoAnn's took their premium solid fabrics and marked them all down by $1 per yard from April 1 - 14.  As I walked around the store, I saw numerous instances where small discounts were provided to prevent the coupons from being applicable.   Note ... the $1 off sale ends on 4/14, just after all 5 of the coupons that are restricted to regular price items expire.

Now don't get me wrong, JoAnn's has the right to execute the pricing strategy that they feel is appropriate.  What irritates me is not that I couldn't get 50% off the 4 yards of Kona solid I wanted to buy, it was the fact that they wasted my time by sending me coupons to encourage me to return ... but I can't use the bulk of those coupons.  And more importantly, they have created a set of expectations (SALE $$$) and delivered a very different experience.  

So I left empty handed and headed off down the road to my LQS, a local business, where I paid $6.99 per yard for my solids, picked up some smaller yardage of prints ... and came home thinking it will be a long, long time before I head back into JoAnn's again.

What's your experience with JoAnn's coupon conundrum?

Happy quilting!

All the best

Lisa