Sewing has still been a bit elusive for me this year, but I had to drag out my machine to do some clothing repairs for a friend with mobility issues, and took the opportunity while the machine was out to finish up this quilt that was started a while ago. Kailee B. and Thiv T. welcomed their first-born to the world a couple of years ago, and I made them a baby quilt to echo some of the beautiful bright orange colors in their wedding. Well they have recently welcomed baby #2 into the world (hello Kiran!), and I wanted to make sure he had his snuggling needs fully met. To that end, I wanted something that was complimentary to his sister's quilt, but also different. For this, I used a partially-finished quilt top a friend had started but didn't complete, and pulled it together with a backing of well-loved tie-dyed soft gooshiness (a sheet that I have loved for literal decades but the fitted sheet in the set had met it's makers, so it was time for an upcycle of the topsheet). I used a poly quilt batting in between for extra bounce, quilted it simply along the cross stitch lines, and bound the while thing is a slightly contrasting binding that I personally think does a nice job of framing, while giving a small nod to the funky colors on the back. I think this could genuinely be a reversible quilt--- I love both sides. It's a simple quilt, but I think a perfect size for a petit bebe, and I love the color matching with his sister, but also the differences and gentler vibe--- knowing how active his dear sister is, I imagine he will bring a bit more of the chill... or not! We shall see! Etiher way, i hope he and the whole family enjoy this little bundle of comfy!
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Well... better late than never, right? I have been working on this quilt for Vanessa M. for a few months now, and in that time, I missed all three milestones for which it was intended. You win some, you lose some. But in the end, I got it finished and sent off to her. Vanessa and I have been friends for decades, and there were three milestones this year to celebrate: both of us turning 44 (#doubledigits), Vanessa getting married to her long-time partner in August (perhaps the most important), and celebrating the 25th anniversary of International Amy and Vanessa day in September (no wait, that is the most important).
It was a moment of milestones, and I thought it would be nice to mark them with a quilt for my dear friend two whom I have never actually gifted a quilt despite so many years together. We are similar in some ways, but not always when it comes to aesthetics. As one might notice on this blog, I am into COLOR, whereas Vanessa has a more minimalist aesthetic. So I did my best to honor that in this design. Using up-cycled batiks, I wove together a mosaic-inspired central panel showing off the navy and blue fabrics, and then like a supernova, slowly worked my way out from there and into the abyss of space (which is an upcycled bedsheet, also used as the backing). It is a small design detail but one I like for those who care to notice, at one corner the scattering of stardust leaks into the outer trim and into the binding itself. Not revolutionary or particularly dramatic, but i love that little detail and I feel like it is something she would notice and enjoy. After finally finishing the quilt top, I sandwiched everything and started the epic task of quilting this thing. I am not a huge quilting fan and usually keep things quite simple, but I felt like this quilt demanded the free-motion-quilting treatment to really bring it all together. It took a long time, but as usual, when I do make the time for it (like on my white whale quilt), I love the final effect on both the front and backsides. I made the binding from more of the navy backing along with some scraps from the center blocks to create the very subtle 'fading off into the edges' effect. I hope that this quilt gets many years of minimalist-design-loving snuggles! I whipped up this bright baby quilt for my friend Christine H. as she gets ready to welcome her first baby into the world in a couple of months. I actually got it done in time for the baby shower! Gasp!
I wanted to play with stripes and color, so I did up some strip sets with some bright, red-ish baby-themed fabrics in my stash, trimmed them up into blocks and then rimmed them all with some of the green apple fabric in my stash. I think it is sweet! Then I added a rim of my fave tie dyed batik that pulled in many of the colors from the striped blocks before adding a final edge of lime fabric-- because why not? I made some binding out of a juicy red fabric from my stash and finished it up! I really like this for a baby-- it is not a huge quilt, but is super colorful, great for tucking in for a snuggle, and can also serve as a bright, colorful play mat or blanket for setting up outside for some play time. I hope she enjoys it, and it gets lots of use! I sewed up this quilt for Shivani C. and her new little baby Aavu! I really like it! Much more 'pink' and monotoned than I usually do, but I knew Shivani would be into it.
I made this using almost all of the rest of the Glebe Patches I had left in my stash. They are just so lovely, and I thought it was time to give them a new home. I chose one of my favourite pink clamshell patterned fabrics to use as the framing fabric, and made some binding out of a variegated purple fabric from my stash. On the back, I used a delightful Winne the Pooh flannel piece I had found, and it fit perfectly and will be extra snuggly. I am quite pleased with how this turned out, and hope it gets many years of use! Not my best blog post title, but it made me smile....
This is a baby quilt I did up for my friend Emily B. and her second child, Franklin. (You can see the one for Henrik here if interested) Before she was even pregnant, she dropped off the blue and brown background fabric for me to use at my leisure-- not for her, but just for me to use as I chose. She said she loved it but with a new baby she just wasn't going to be making anything anytime soon. So I held on to it, waiting for the right moment--- until the day I found out she was pregnant with her second child! I dug it out and then promptly procrastinated for many months until I was finally able to find the time to pull this together. I tried to use fabrics that matched the background fabric (ie: the fabric Emily gave me), and feel like it came out pretty well. I used some of my African fabrics from the stash (some of which were also used in this quilt for Zawadi), making some colorful panels to catch baby's eye, and centered it all around one of the batik elephants in my stash. I also rimmed it in some pine cone fabric--- the family likes to be at cottages and in nature, and I thought the colors worked well-- and then made some binding with the background fabric and sandwiched it up! I hope little Franklin enjoys many snuggles with this quilt! The quilt arrived 6 weeks after Franklin did, but I am sure he will be enjoying it as the autumn season starts to unfold. Enjoy! I put together this colorful blast of puffiness for Kailee B. and Thiv T. as a baby quilt/ playmat for their soon-to-arrive bebe! (Did I mention I am EXCITED?!) For this quilt, I went for bright, juicy colors, but incorporated a gradient towards more pastels and cooler colors towards one end, just to have the option of a bit more peace if needed. :) I raided my stash and cut strips of some favourite fabrics (including a few that I used in Kailee and Thiv's wedding lap quilt), and also did up a few more scrappy strips for a bit of variety. Despite common practice, I decided to forego a border and just go with the end-to-end stripe look, which I have never done but really like. I sandwiched the top with two layers of poofy poly batten, and used some bright green contrasting polkadots for the back. Quilted very simply with horizontal and vertical lines in a square grid pattern, and then made some bright red binding to bring everything together. I really love how it came out, and hope it provides lots of warmth and colorful comfort to the whole family!
Made this lovely little upcycled baby quilt for my dear friend Karen B. in the Netherlands, as she and her partner are set to welcome their first child into the world. I started with a simple square-block design, and then pierced the order with some colorful strips of chaos, fitting for the life-altering-ness of a baby. I like the stripey border, which I made a little wider on the top and bottom to help make it a bit more of a rectangle. I quilted it simply with horizontal lines along the border between the colorful stripes, and then quilted down either side of the strips. Did a pieced backing with a panel of that beautiful egret upcycled curtain fabric I was given. And bound it all in the border fabric, which has a little bit of an offset confetti feel. I love it! Hope baby Brummel spends many a cozy nap on this quilt from Auntie Amy in Canada!
I have two friends with birthdays over the holiday season, so I decided to make the holiday babies matching altar mats. Inspired by fractals, I used some of my batiks as a base, and then broke things up with strips and triangles from different fabrics to (hopefully) create some evocative fractal patterns. I also used some upcycled silk sari fabric for the border, and made some matching binding. I quilted both mats with loops and swirls to contrast with the angular fractal piecing design. I backed Jenn C.'s with some of my urban city scape fabric, and Katherine K.'s with some of the batik elephant fabric I have in my stash. I really enjoyed experimenting with the piecing for this project, and love how they came out in the end!
I made this for Trent B. as a holiday gift. Took small scraps of different color palettes and sewed them together into panels, eventually cutting them down into sections to make strips of varying widths. I also assembled a selection of yellow fabrics that went from lighter to darker. I then worked on assembling the strips in opposite directions (light on dark, etc...). A fussy bit was attaching the transition pieces on the side of the mosaic strips so that the different yellow fabrics transitioned in the middle of the mosaic strips. But in the end i like the effect.
After it was all pieced, I used some upcycled batik on the back and then quilted it simply with wavy lines, and then bound the whole piece in the lightest yellow fabric to highlight the contrast. Added some tabs at the top to hang it, and bob's your uncle! Hope it provides some inspiration and visual distraction! A bit of an experiment: a wall-hanging-come-runner-mat for Natalie F. as part of a gift exchange. I am experimenting with the concept of cool fabrics poking through a solid-ish background (see next post) and this was a first attempt at the design. I really like how it came out, and hope she does too!
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