Done: My To-Do List Quilt

I started my To-Do List quilt the last week in October and finished it last week.  Two weeks from start to finish is pretty fast for me.

Three things inspired me to make this quilt:

1. My love of to-do lists, and a desire to have a cute one in my sewing room.
2. One fat quarter of Clipboard, purchased in September.
3. My fascination with envelope blocks, as created by Lynda Milligan and Nancy Smith in their book, "Quilts Aplenty".

Here's the quilt, pin-basted.

I wish they made safety pins that were a little thinner, but I suppose they wouldn't be as sturdy.  These leave holes in the fabric, and I have to rub the holes a bunch with my fingernail to get the weave to close up.

I wanted buttons on my envelope flaps, and once I had the placement figured out, I taped them to this grid that corresponded to the appropriate blocks.  I didn't want to lose them, and I didn't want to forget which went with what.  There they sat, nice and safe, until it was time to sew them on.

When auditioning bindings, I considered black because it matched my cornerstones.  But when looking at it from a distance, I didn't like the way the cornerstones just kept flowing without a visual stop.  

  Therefore I opted for a light, striped binding.  

  
Here's the front.

I found directions online from Alex Anderson's "Simply Quilts" show that used to run on HGTV.   In fact, that's how I found out about the book.  I found it just in the nick of time - in early November, HGTV redesigned their website and dropped the links to the episode.  I'm sorry about that, because I was really looking forward to sharing it with you.

The original quilt, known as "S.W.A.K. Envelope Quilt", consisted of all envelope blocks.  I alternated them with unpieced blocks from the Clipboard fabric.  Each block (except for the large white one) finishes at 4.5" x 6.5", and my version of the quilt is approximately 28" tall and 31" wide.

 

Here's a close-up of some of the envelopes.  Quilting was quick and easy - I edge stitched the sashing.

  

A variation of the quilt had a pocket to hold paper and pen, and that seemed like a fine idea to me.  There's no envelope, just a slot backed with the same polka-dot as the envelope flaps.  I made it the height of two envelope blocks, then needed to find the right kind of paper to fit in there.  

I picked this fabric because of the sewing-related theme, and because the white made this pocket stand out.

I found the perfect size and color notebook, and a 13" Minnie Mouse pencil that I dare myself to misplace.

Here they are, a perfect fit.  I can either tuck the entire notebook in, or leave the cover hanging outside for a little extra decoration.

On the back, I continued with the theme of planning/making/sewing, by choosing hand-print fabric.  

The label is a paper-pieced block from Ayumi Takahashi's You've Got Mail Wall Pocket quilt in her book "Patchwork Please".  This envelope doesn't open.

But the ones on the front, do.  Now I need to fill them up with sewing-related do-to lists.