A Big Quilt for a Little Lady...

It started with a need for a gift and an idea. I was browsing my favorite quilt fabric shop and got all the way to the wall of books and magazines this time. Up until now, the fabric entranced me so, I don't know if I noticed there were books and magazines along the back wall. Tunnel vision, no doubt. After several minutes of leafing through a dozen publications, I came across Quilts Made Modern. There were several of the 10 designs I liked, but the one that really got my attention was this one called Loft. I don't know if it was its graphical pattern, the colors they used, or the waves of stitching. Let's say it was all three.

Could this be the one I make for my special gift? Sure—why not!? So I bought the book—did I really spend THAT much for ONE instruction book? Oh. well, got it closer to filling in my frequent customer card.

After spending quite some time not finding just the fabric I wanted, I decided to check at Hobby Lobby for fabric. This was a mixed blessing. Yes, I finally found some fabrics that worked together just as I wished, and they cost a bit less, but I was soon to discover a bit of the disappointment in using less than high-end fabric. Live and learn!  Although pink and brown are the planned nursery colors, I decided to look a little farther down the road. What if I made a quilt that will last a little longer than infancy—something she can use after the crib.

I choose contemporary bright pinks and greens for the top and binding. For the backing, I found a darling pink and white toile of vintage Mother Goose rhyme characters. As before, I scanned some of the fabric and roughed out the design in Photoshop to use as guide. After some calculations and instruction edits and print outs, I started cutting the pieces. The process involved stitching together long strips in to blocks and then cross cutting the assembled pieces into blocks.

It went together pretty quickly, but needed a little custom touch. I used my Cricut/Gypsy to cut out fabric fused to Wonder Under to spell out her name; fused the letters to the bottom right corner's block; and satin stitched the raw edges. I also dotted the 'i' with a heart. How cutesie! Instead of using straight pins (albeit ones with flat heads), I tried safety-pinning together the top, batting, and backing this time. They worked great and kept the 'quilt sandwich' very stable through the contortions of my version of machine quilting. I also used an all-cotton batting. I was (just barely) able to stitch everything together on my ever-faithful Lady Kenmore. Instead of a fancy overall stitching pattern, I opted for stitching the ditch and it's all held together beautifully.

I am making more home-mades and I want to 'sign' my work. Hey, they may become someone's heirlooms some day! I came up with the idea (am certain many have done this before me) to use iron-on transfer paper printed off my inkjet printer. This is how I signed off Miss Cali's quilt.

All that's left is to give it to her momma. I can hardly wait! I'm pulling together this post beforehand and will publish after she has it in hand. Cali, you've got a great family waiting for you! Jamie, Jace, and Chris—we love you guys!