Patchwork, sort of

I really am in love with this latest project for a friend who is due in June!

I bought this gorgeous henna-looking fabric thinking I would use one for the front of the quilt, and one for the binding, but I couldn't decide which would be better/less overwhelming as an entire quilt, since they both are so bright and bold. I had a stroke of genius when I decided to take a chance and try to do some actual patchwork rather then the wholecloth quilts I have always done. However, I got scared of messing it up and stopped at stripes. I used the same fabrics as the binding since they are so vibrant and I thought adding another color might be too kooky. The backside is a fun circle stripes pattern that coordinates great with the items this mama showed me she had registered for. 

Creating these stripes was not as scary as I thought and maybe I will experiment more with patchwork. I think the thing that scares me is just how precise things need to be. I get easily frustrated and would be mad if things didn't work out right and I end up having to start over again or adjust everything. So we will see.  I have a few small project ideas I can try first!

 

Seaworthy

In early February, my husband (it still feels sort of odd to say this?) and I took a belated honeymoon to Hawaii! Before we went, I stitched up this quilt so that it could be at the baby shower in my place since I had to miss it.

I really was unsure all through this project if the quilt I made was going to fly for a few reasons:

1. The mama in question had told me the only real 'theme' they were doing or telling people was 'boats and books.'  I could not find any fabric that had anything to do with books (which really bummed me out) and the only nautical one I saw was a really yucky blue color that I just could not bring myself to buy. I ended up going a bit abstract with my 'boats' interpretation and did more of a 'sea' theme.

2. The baby's gender was going to be a surprise! So I wasn't sure if I should try to be super gender neutral or just go with colors/patterns/fabrics that seemed right to me. I went with the latter and crossed my fingers. 

3. One of those 'fabrics that seemed right' was fish. I thought it was cute but would they like it? Would they get my 'boat' interpretation? Is Navy and Green to "boyish"? What if they have a girl? Girls like the sea too, duh. 

Ah so many questions!  In the end I said stop worrying about it, I love it, they will too!  I was really obsessed with this scalloped watercolory fabric when I saw it in the fabric shop, and wish I had bought a load more of it. It reminded me of the ocean so that was the first thing I grabbed. I thought the fish were cute for the backside and for the binding, I chose a fabric that was dark navy with white, blue, and lavender starbursts.  So the quilt is representative of the water (the scallops), under the water (the fish) and the sky above (the binding).  

To my delight, the parents of this little one LOVE their quilt! And their baby boy is enjoying his new blanket already. 

Each quilt I make is my favorite one until I make the next one! There are just so many gorgeous fabrics out there!

Two Custom Quilts

Three months since I last posted, that is just ridiculous. I wasn't working on much and then all of a sudden I had two custom quilt orders from Etsy and another little quilt is in the works for a friend who is expecting this summer.

These two quilts are really different but oh so adorable and really they both scream SPRINGTIME to me! I really enjoyed making them and getting back into the swing of making these quilts.

The first one of these was for a friend's second baby. I made a quilt for her first little one and it was a big hit! So number 2 could not be left out! The mama told me that she was working with a wallpaper in the baby's room that was pretty dark paisley, and she had a dark wood crib, so she was going to do all white linens with a pop of teal.  This seemed pretty straightforward but so simple! I made the front of the quilt just plain white, and I offered to embroider the gal's name on it, and I picked a fun springy fabric for the backside that I fell in love with. It's a buttery yellow with little white butterflies throughout. For the binding, I found a teal polka dot fabric so that was easy! The way I sewed this together was sort of a happy accident, and at one point I almost started over but in the end, I decided it looked like ruffles and so just kind of went with it. It turned out super cute!






This second one was ordered by a friend for her brother's girlfriend's soon-to-be-born little girl. She showed me a few pictures of things the mama-to-be liked including forest animals, and said for colors, coral, gray, white. I didn't find exactly what I wanted but I really love how this one turned out! I found a really gorgeous faux bois woodgrain print that I used for the backside, and for the front I found this lovely print of antlers surrounded by bunches of flowers. For the binding, I picked the most coral fabric I could find and it happened to have cute squiggly white lines throughout so that added a little interest! I couldn't find a plain coral color that I liked so I went with it! I love how the coral binding looks against the woodgrain. I hope this lady and her little lady love this quilt for many years! Here is a video of me sewing this quilt together!