Pixel Quilt: the perfect nerdcore romantic gift
What to give your totally awesome, nerdy boyfriend? I opted for something large, bold, and completely homemade: a pixel quilt. I've seen several of these online (some of which are EXTREMELY impressive), so there was no shortage of inspiration. Some had specific images designed in quilted pixels while others were more abstract. A true child of the '80s, he and I both grew up playing classic video games, but I wanted this quilt to be a bit more timeless, so I opted for an abstract design. I also opted to go more monochromatic, so as to maximize future bedroom decor compatibility.
I began in classic OCD nerd fashion: in Excel.
I chose three shades of red and a bright orange for this project, in a gradient pattern. Once I tweaked it to my liking in Excel, I was able to determine how much of each color I would need, and headed off to the fabric store.
After laboriously cutting out 323 perfect 5-inch squares, I sewed them all together by horizontal rows, and stacked them neatly along the way.
Next, I ironed down all of the seams for each of these horizontal rows and laid them out on my bed to make sure the pattern was still looking the way I wanted.
Right on track so far. Next up, I carefully sewed all of the horizontal rows together, hopin' like the dickens the seams line up alright.
To my pleasant surprise, they mostly did! Thank gawd.
My beau is rather tall (6'4"), so I wanted to make sure I made this quilt extra long. I ended up adding about an 8-inch panel border on the top and bottom to give it some extra length. I added a contrasting pale sage green backing fabric, and pinned some polar fleece between the two layers as batting.
And now for my least favorite part about making patchwork quilts: the actual quilting part, or as I amateurishly call it, top-stitching.
I ended up going with a Fibonacci-esque squared off spiral pattern, which worked out well and gave the back an interesting look to it.
I was very happy with the final product, as was my lovely sig. oth. I'm not sure how many hours I clocked on this thing, but when it's for a loved one, who's counting?
Oh, and don't forget to add a personalized embroidered note on any quilt you make as a gift. It adds exponential sentimental value, and contributes to those warm fuzzies we all like.
