Sewing for a teenager

Much of the past few months has been occupied by my search for the appropriate quilt top for my teenage granddaughter. I queried her dad, and she liked birds, wanting to be an ornithologist (really?) and blue, preferably royal blue.

In this quest, I finally developed some smarts( hard to believe, I know), by testing squares before cutting the entire quilt.

 At first, it would have 8" squares of embroidered birds in a modified Log Cabin pattern.

Now, in this process of testing designs, I learned a couple of things. First, I don't mind stitching the occasional machine embroidered design, but the thought of cranking out enough 8" blocks for a quilt top made me twitch severely enough to require seizure meds.

Next, it was 10" squares of embroidered birds set on point with blue corner triangles. Big blocks means fewer embroidered squares right?

The second thing occurred to me at this stage. She's never once mentioned birds or ornithology to me in any way, shape, or form.

Birds, really? What was that all about? But, she talks of her cats constantly.

Oh ho! Here we go! Something I can work with that she likes. Design 3 was an appliquéd cat head square. Adorable, but too cutesy for the teenage granddaughter. And machine appliquéing hundreds of wee bits of cat faces would be a torture worthy of Dante's 9th level of hell.

I pressed onward, because a Nana is NEVER deterred by setbacks. Design 4 is a pieced cat square. The test sewed up beautifully, and the cats are all different colors. Blue is incorporated in several cats, and I'll likely bind the quilt with a patched binding of blues. It's old enough for her now and later in life, but not too old fashioned.

I knew I'd find the right design for her. The cutting of half of the squares is done, maybe more. I like to break up big cutting jobs so that I have a kitchen table in-between cutting sessions. My family likes it too. Off to the sewing room!

Now what to do with those damnable bird squares? Give me time...