I owe you a post about Annabel's newly-finished quilt. But as I sat down to write this, I realized I don't have a lot to say! Someday, I'll make an actual quilt from a pattern, but I don't know as though I've ever really done that. It's a bit of a wing and a prayer, for sure, my method of quilting, with only a wee bit of (never quite enough) measuring and math to make it work. Perhaps it's best not to follow suit. Ahem.
I wrote about the beginnings of her quilt almost two years agot. The fabrics were chosen to complement Adelaide's quilt, thinking they'd be sharing a room. A domino effect of other house plans and decisions, that ended up not being the case. But still, the girls like that their quilts 'match'. The fabrics are a mix of a few vintage pieces, some scraps from clothing I've made for the girls, and a few new little pieces here and there too. Cream, pink, brown - that's as rigid as I got about the colors. I cut the pieces into 4 inch wide strips, then cut to various lengths, between 4 - 6 inches each. Those were then joined into long strips the length of the quilt, and then those strips connected to create the top. It is backed with a 200 thread count white muslin, and bound with a handmade binding using one of the fabrics in the quilt. I use Quilter's Dream 100% cotton batting, mid loft. Anything thicker than that, and I have a hard time getting it through my machine without despising the process (and I like sewing too much to let that happen). We also keep our quilts on our beds year-round and the lighter weight makes it usable in the summer too (everyone has down and wool layers too for wintertime, not to mention the flannel. Oh we know how to layer up well!) A sandwich of the three layers, many many quilting pins, and a system of rolling it tightly as I go, enabled me to get it through my machine for quilting - just straight lines, down the length of the quilt.
I don't know if that's helpful to anyone, those details, but that's how I did it. I really love this quilt - the colors, and some of those prints are among my very favorites, some with such fun memories of her as a baby wearing something made out of the fabrics. She likes finding the few patches with pigs, or the clothesline, and on and on.
I had such fun finishing her quilt, that I wanted to get right to another when I finished it. The pieces of the Lotta Jansdotter pack that I started in the fall have grown this week, and I think I've puzzled out just what I want to do with it (I had started cutting and sewing without a plan originally), and where it will ultimately live. So that's exciting.
And simultaneously, the beginnings of another are happening too. Looking around at the beds and babes here, I determined that Calvin was next up for a new quilt. His was made quilt a few years back, when he was just nine years old. It no longer really suits him, his room, or even the size of his bed. We had some discussion about the style he'd like - simple and modern were his answers (the tidiest room in the house, this boy keeps). And his color request? Black. I laughed, and teased him that it was absolutely a cliche teenager response and couldn't he stretch just a little bit? Okay. Black and white, then, he replied. Ah, well. So black and white it shall be. He landed on Denyse Schmidt's Hop Skip Jump as a pattern. And so, all these quilts later, I am beginning my very first from-a-pattern quilt, which I am equally excited and apprehensive about. But what I am absolutely certain of? There's nothing like tucking my babes in at night, pulling those covers up over them, and knowing they'll sleep under a quilt made just for them. Peace.