Kharma Khameleon, A Baby Boomer Blankie

As mentioned in my previous Post, Karma came knocking via an email from Sandra asking if I would like to be a pattern tester for her latest pattern Sunset Strip.  Like her previous patterns I have tested or made, Sunset Strip was a fun make. The pattern is for two sizes: Throw and Crib and I tested the Crib Size. I’ve proven once again that I can’t quite follow a pattern as I’m always looking for ways to sew easy and quick so maybe I’m a pattern interpreter. Today, Sandra, mmmquilts is releasing Sunset Strip and you can click on these links to read her Post about the making of her quilt and to see the pattern in her Etsy shop with a special launch price of $5.41. You might see how I “interpret” her Sunset Strip pattern.

Before I agreed to be a pattern tester, I had to make sure that I had fabric in my stash already and am happy to have found yardage of a Free Spirit print, Dance Moves, by Katie Pasquini Masopust. I had purchased this fabric earlier this year when I was in Maine and enjoyed a fabric buying spree with good Quilt Sista  Kathleen McMusing at Mardens in Scarborough. I knew I wanted to use this wonderful Citronickle print for the background. When I first saw Sandra’s Sunset Strip which is a wonderful pattern with negative space to showcase beautiful machine quilting, I knew I had to find a background print to make up for my lackluster machine quilting. Happily, I knew Dance Moves would be perfect. 

I’ve always say when I have to choose under ten fabrics for a quilt, it takes me forever like several days which was true for Kharma Khameleon. I wanted to use my Basic Grey Grunge stash and it took three layouts until I was happy with the final fabric choice. I decided to add the black window print which almost looks the same as the black squares in the Dance Moves print and gave it the color punch I needed  to make these circle blocks pop.

As mentioned earlier in this Post, I am confessing that I constructed the blocks differently because I happened to have an Accuquilt die (not an affiliate link) which allowed me to make  the “O” blocks even faster. I did let Sandra know what I planned to do and she approved. This die can be used as a signature block and O and X blocks also known as Hugs and Kisses.

And another way to make Kharma Khameleon a quick make was deciding to back it only with Minky, no batting. I had just the right shade of green and yardage in my stash. You can see above I basted with just long straight pins.

Machine quilting  was quick with wavey lines spaced 4” apart using a lime polyester thread and a ball point Jersey needle. I could say there was nothing but good karma in the making but you can see in the lower right pic I miscalculated how much binding of the black print I needed. I can’t say enough how much I love backing my flimsies with Minky/plush fabric. When I do this, I call it a Throw for an Adult size and a blankie for a baby/child.

I have to mention how I came up with the name Kharma Khameleon Baby Boomer Blankie.  In previous Posts about making smaller quilts, I said that they would be nice to give to friends who are retiring and the size is right for keeping our legs warm when sitting outside or in the car. Let’s say this small size “sits well”. Most of my friends are Baby Boomers, as I am, and being that I like alliteration in my quilt names, I had to call Kharma Khameleon a Baby Boomer Blankie. Kharma Khameleon is what I came up with while I was basting the quilt and admiring the Dance Moves fabric once again and wondering what a chameleon would look like against it. I started singing Boy George’s Karma Chameleon and maybe busting a few dance moves. Despite  already chosen two other names for this quilt, Squircle Alley and Huggsville,  Kharma Khameleon just sang to me. I have a connection to Boy George, being that two of the men in my family have birthdays the same day as famous musician/composers; one shares a birthday with Beethoven and the other with Paul McCartney. I wondered if I shared a birthday too with a famous musician and learned that mine was with Boy George. Am I lucky or what? While I was finishing Kharma Khameleon and Hubby wondering why I was singing a blast from the past, probably thought I was going to ask him to put this song on his Band’s playlist, decided to look it up online and found an explanation for the lyrics. “Basically, if you aren’t true, if you don’t act like you feel, then you get Karma-justice, that’s nature’s way of paying you back.” This message still resonates today and I think I can apply this thought to why I prefer to make easy quilts, if I’m making a quilt I find too challenging or not my style, then my seams aren’t going to line up or my sewing machine is going to act up. I do believe in quilt karma.

Kharma Khameleon measures 38” x 44” which I have to mention again it’s a nice size which sits well.  I am ready to rock my first official Baby Boomer Blankie. This is really a fast make and a wonderful gift for yourself, family or friends, just in time for the holidays. I am finding out that I don’t have too many baby quilts to make anymore but I do have Boomers who might need or want a blankie. Do check out Sandra’s post and you will see the quilts from the other pattern testers, Tish, Carol and Michelle Peet.

Here are the links once again:

Sandra’s Post: https://www.mmmquilts.com/2023/12/sunset-strip-pattern-release.html

Sunset Strip Pattern: https://sandrajanequilts.etsy.com/ca/listing/1626014691/sunset-strip-pdf-quilt-pattern-throw