Redwork Christmas Quilt Design - Block 1

As I said in my 100th post yesterday, I have big plans for this year as I am going to start designing my own stuff. So to kick off this year of 'design' I am going to share something I have started to design for our baby for Christmas (yes, I am thinking about Christmas 2010 already!).

Lets just start by saying that I have always had a 'thing' for redwork, but I believe that it is only as beautiful and timeless as the design. That is where I feel a lot of redwork patterns fall down. The ones that are free are terrible in most cases and the ones that are great cost more than I am willing to pay - like Rosalie Quinlan's Redwork Christmas. It is absolutely adorable, but I just can't justify the $130 for the pattern (especially when I'm not working).

My aim is to give our baby three gifts at Christmas time, with at least one of the gifts having been handmade by me. I thought a redwork 'Christmas' quilt would be ideal as it would tie my love of redwork in with a gift that will hopefully be used for many years to come. Since I can't justify the money to buy a pattern for each of the redwork blocks, I decided I would need to design my own. So I did just that!

First I thought up an idea in my head and drew it into my 'design journal'. Let me just say here, that while I can draw 'ok' I am by no means an artist. Therefore I would appreciate if you would not judge me on my drawing ability (or lack thereof) lol!

Here is the design for the first redwork block, which surprisingly turned out exactly like what I was imagining in my head:

Next I transferred the design out of the journal and onto tracing paper, tidying it up a bit as I went. I then stuck the tracing paper onto a window and used the light from outside to trace the design onto a piece of calico with a marker that will erase when washed. Here is a picture of the design on the calico:

Finally, it is time to start stitching. I am trying not to do too much of the stitching as I think it will make a good 'pre-labour' task when the time comes (if it ever comes!), but here is what I have done so far:

I am imagining this quilt will have either 9 or 12 blocks, but I am undecided whether they will be uniform in appearance or if they will be different shapes and sizes that eventually tie in together to form a rectangle. I guess that is the beauty of designing your own stuff - you never know what you're going to end up with!