"Curiosities" - Baby Charlie Quilt #11

Over the summer, I joined a few friends on a girls trip to the Olympic Peninsula.  We stopped at quilt shops and had lunch at Hurricane Ridge.  One of the shops we stopped at had an adorable panel called Curiosities made into a quilt and displayed.  My brother and sister in law were pregnant at the time and they were not finding out the sex.  I bought the panel hoping the little one would be a girl.  The shop owner let me take pictures of it to remind myself what it looked like.  

Lucky for me, they did have a girl!  I set to work right away on this quilt to have it ready in time for Christmas.  This was my first time using free motion quilting to trace.  I was pleased with the results! 

On the original blanket the baby name was done in hand embroidery, but I wanted it to stand out more so I appliqued her name using the border and binding fabrics.

Bunny for Baby - Quilt #6

My first commissioned quilt!  Ok, so the job came from my Mom, but it gave me good practice in turning someone else's vision into reality.  Fortunately she was very open to my thoughts and gave me a lot of creative freedom. 

Rayma recently had her first baby.  Her family and my family have been friends for so long, I call Rayma's mom auntie.  We all live in different states, and haven't seen each other in many years, but my mom is still very close with all of Rayma's family.  Mom wanted a special and unique gift that Rayma and Harper could treasure forever. 

The blanket measures approximately 30" x 40".  It includes applique, hand embroidery, and machine quilting.  This was my first time machine quilting anything other than stitch in the ditch.  My machine doesn't do it well, but I made it work.  :)

To make this quilt:

• Cut six 10.5" x 10.5" squares, cut one 30.5" x 20.5" rectangle for the center.  Sew two strips of three squares each.  Attach one strip on either side of the rectangle.
• Find a bunny and flower applique drawing (I like Google images), choose your fabrics then trace and applique.  Attach baby rick rack.
• Use a button for the bunny nose and hand embroider the mouth and whiskers.  The eyes are a 6 strand french knot.  Hand embroider the baby name and birthdate onto the flower applique.  (I typed it on the computer to give me a font so I wouldn't have to rely on my handwriting, then traced it.)
• Make your quilt sandwich, stitch around the bunny, stitch in the ditch on each of the squares at top and bottom.
• Go to Google images and find different flower drawings. Print them on card stock, cut out and use as a template to draw the flowers (using disppearing ink) onto the blanket. Machine (or hand) quilt.

You will need:
3 fabrics for the top and bottom squares
1 fabric for the center rectangle
Fabrics for the bunny, flower and leaf
Fabrics for the backing and binding (I used the bunny fabric as backing and binding - it was perfect, and we had a lot of it)
Batting
Button
Matching DMC embroidery floss
Matching thread colors for quilting

The quilt top goes together pretty quick since it's six larger pieces.... everything else takes more time.  It was a labor of love and I really enjoyed watching this one come together!

~ Enjoy ~

Gwen's blanket

I've been posting mostly recipes, so I'm due for something about sewing.  Since my current project is still a few days away from completion, I'll show my first baby quilt.  A friend in Arizona has a three year old and I've wanted to send her something for awhile... but it had to be meaningful.  Now that I've learned how to quilt, a little blanket seemed the perfect thing.  My friend (and mentor) Judi suggested a rail fence design to start off with.  My friend Dionne and I went shopping for materials and she's amazing at putting fabrics together.  Between the two of us we came up with some great ideas.  I was so excited to see it put together, I worked feverishly to get it done - even through power outages!  (My husband hooked up a deep cycle battery and power inverter.)

Little Gwen's room is done in fuschia, brown, dark aqua and dark lime green.  The picture just doesn't do this quilt justice - it is so much cuter in person - the colors aren't quite right in the photo either.  The pink border has little polka dots, the inner dark color is actually brown, even though it looks black from here.  Click the pictures to see them larger...