Last week I shared the first of two gender neutral baby quilts I've made for sisters due within weeks of each other. I wanted to make each quilt individual and completely different from the other. Here's the second quilt...
This baby's parents are both engineers and I wanted an organized pattern of form and color so I made a Geometric Slide. Pattern by Faith Jones and available in her book Vintage Quilt Revival. I altered the pattern to make this baby sized.
Who doesn't love squared up blocks and a pretty pile of trimmings?
Since I was using only one print for each color I chose to alter the starting point of the slide as well. I didn't want the colors all lined up like in Faith's beautiful scrappy version.
How perfect is this backing? After lots of searching I found this Wooden Blocks print online at Stash Fabrics. It's by Sarah Jane for Michael Miller Fabrics so I knew it would be super soft. I had never seen this before and wasn't sure how true my computer monitor was showing the colors but I was running out of time so I crossed my fingers and placed the order. After a short delay by the USPS my order finally arrived and matched absolutely perfectly. Yay for happy endings!
I had originally planned to use one of the prints in the blocks for a binding but was so happy with the backing fabric that I decided to use it for the binding as well. I like it!
I free-motion quilted this to death with tons of jagged lines and shapes. Have you seen those labels you can buy that say, "This took me for-ev-er"? This was worthy of one of those! 😉
You can see the quilting a little better on the white. For me the challenge is keeping all the quilting similar sized - easier on the white background than the colorful blocks. It's so hard for me to ignore the shape of a block and keep things random.
I used Quilter's Dream Cotton Select loft batting.
Doesn't it make a nice backdrop for these adorable hats my daughter knit for the cousins!
So for this second gender neutral quilt I switched up grays and neutrals for bright colors, a timeless block for something modern, and straight line quilting for dense free-motion. Rest assured, however, that equal amounts of love have been sewn into each.
And everything has been gifted with lots of prayers for healthy, happy babies!
2017 is proving to be quite a prolific year! Today I'm sharing the first of two baby quilts I gifted at a double baby shower last week. Two sisters due within 6 weeks of each other!
Both mamas are waiting to be surprised which is a challenge for a quilt maker. There are so many cute fabric lines for babies but they are all so gender specific. Enter Lizzy House's Whisper Palette, five neutrals from my stash, and a timeless hour-glass block.
I purchased a bundle from Lady Belle Fabrics. (She was hosting an extremely generous giveaway on Red Pepper Quits blog and I wanted to help support her.) There are 21 prints in the collection and pairing each with a neutral gave me 42 blocks. That made deciding how big to make this easy - 7 rows of 6 blocks.
A few close up shots to zoom in on the sweet prints. This fabric is so soft and I wonder if it's because the prints are so calm.
I used the super thin Request loft cotton batting from Quilter's Dream and my walking foot to quilt along each of the seam lines: vertically, horizontally, and diagonally. I like the "star" it made at each point.
The
back and binding are both prints from the collection. How cute are these mice on
bikes? Daddy is quite a bike rider so this was an easy pick!
Neutrals, grays, and randomly placed classic blocks for one sister. Check back next week to see how I changed it up for the other!
This was...sew much fun!
If you are a Star Wars fan you will recognize BB-8, the droid introduced in The Force Awakens. I first spotted this pattern by Hunter Design Studio when Sam hosted a quilt along for her The Droid is Not For Sale quilt. I wasn't able to participate then. But now my daughter, a huge fan, is pregnant and calling her little guy BB-8 so I just had to make the individual droid portion. The pattern is well written and easy to follow. It's all basic piecing and goes together quickly.
Quilting decisions always challenge me and this quilt was no exception. I reviewed studied the various choices made by some during the quilt along.
Here are a few zoomed in photos so you can see my choices.
I quilted this with my Handiquilter and it was my first time using a ruler. It wasn't as hard as I thought and now I wish I'd tried it sooner. Oh well.
The backing is cozy Shannon Cuddle 3 fabric I found at Curly Girl Fabric on Etsy.
I just love how you can still see BB-8 on the back.
This past winter I jumped on a chance to pattern test for Sam's newest Star Wars pixel pattern, General Organa. The pattern is now available complete with a few different options for finishing. Sam lists both the General Organa and Rey and BB-8 patterns as "pay what you can". She donates all proceeds to Chick-Tech which she explains is "a nationwide non-profit organization dedicated to retaining women in the
technology workforce, and increasing the number of women and girls
pursuing technology-based careers."
Originally I thought I would somehow combine this grown up Princess Leia with BB-8 but I couldn't work it out. I'll save her for something else. In the meantime she's hanging out on the design wall in my sewing room. My granddaughter loves waving to her every time she makes her way into the room. It's so sweet - so on the wall she stays!
May the Force be with you!
