Whirlygiggles and zigzags

What better way to spend the day?

{Zigzag play quilt top}

I nearly finished the zigzag quilt top for my friend's soon-to-be-born baby boy. All that's left is to cut off the points and square it up. I used Amanda Jean's tutorial on Bee Square Fabrics' Blog. This came together so quickly. Of course, it's not nearly as big as the sample quilt, but quick none the less. I used six fat quarters I had on hand instead of the recommended fabrics. I didn't have matching solids, so I just used variations of the blue and yellow. Hopefully I will finish this play quilt later this week and get it mailed off before the baby arrives.

{Discharged Whirlygiggle}

This beauty is an experiment of two interesting techniques I have read about lately. First, I discharged one of the fat quarters I won from Sew, Mama, Sew! I used Elizabeth's method, but had to leave the fabric in longer than the 7-8 minutes she suggested. It just didn't take in that time. The half of the fat quarter I discharged soaked in the bleach solution for about an hour. You can see that was a bit too long and the discharging didn't take uniformly, but I still enjoyed doing this. I want to try overdying as well, but need supplies I don't have on hand for that. R0ssie started a flickr group for discharging and overdying which includes a getting started giveaway.

Also via Amanda Jean (I just love her blog) I found Michelle's tutorial for whirlygiggles. Isn't that a great name for this block? The name alone makes me want to make an entire quilt of them so I can tell other people they are whirlygiggles. I discharged some red fabric too but didn't get a chance to sew the pieces together, yet. Eventually they will be made into place mats, pot holders or a floor mat. We'll see which.

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