FF: A Baby Quilt for K.

I'm sure as quilters, you can relate when I tell you this quilt stressed me out something serious. I knew that eventually my friend and quilting sensei K would have a baby, and eventually I'd make said baby a quilt, and OMG, what could I ever make for this baby that would be good enough for such an important friend? I'm 100% serious when I say that I started thinking about this quilt a couple of years before it was time to start.

But then. I won a copy of Modern Rainbow by Rebecca Bryan in a giveaway, and while I swoon over the entire book, the Huckleberry quilt pattern was so incredibly wonderful that I knew immediately that it was the baby quilt I would make for K. I waffled a bit over fabric choices--I certainly do not have that many solids in my stash in the right shades, nor did I want to try and procure them--and finally ended with the idea of using prints and repeating each print four times. The background fabric is Essex linen in black. 

Can I just say, this quilt was fairly easy to put together? I was concerned with the assembly--bias edges! Curves! Templates! But the instructions provided were wonderful, and it came together faster than I expected.

But then I stalled on how to quilt it. Rebecca Bryan's quilting on the original Huckleberry was so divine. I knew that wasn't going to happen. Over a few days, I pondered it, and I even went so far as to sketch out some ideas, which let me tell you, NEVER HAPPENS in the world of Audreyland Hot Pink Quilts goodness. But. It was worth it. I love the center quilting. I echo-quilted the hexagons--gotta have some normal Audrey quilting in there somewhere--but for the quilting of the corners, I found myself stumped once again.

One of the things that had irked me about this quilt creation is that I wanted to add something for K's husband, who is also a good friend of mine, but I could never figure out what. Since this quilt's process has been pretty magical, I was unsurprised when the answer seemed to emerge from nowhere.

I FMQ'd the words "Hello World" into one of the corners, followed by a six-sided star. The other three corners aren't so fancy, just a geometric design, but this one corner is special. A Hello World program is (usually) a simple program to teach beginning computer programmers. Since this baby's papa is a CS guru, and it is inevitable that this little bambino will be surrounded by computers and computer know-how, it seemed fitting. The fact that the same words could also serve to introduce the little bubs to the universe made it extra fitting.

The backing is a batik that my middle son helped me pick out especially for this baby, and the quilting shows up extra yummy on the back. (All quilting was done in black thread, though the piecing was done in mostly navy as I ran out of black thread shortly after I started!) The binding is the same black as the background fabric, but when cutting it, I discovered I was short a 2.25" x WOF strip. UGH. So I cut up some scraps from the hexagon piecing to add a bit of a scrappy element. And I love the way it turned out.

All in all, I'd gladly keep this quilt for one of my own kiddos, so I'm taking that to mean I succeeded in making a quilt special enough for my dear friends.

FF: A Peach and Blue Quilt.

So, the plan around here at HPQ is to quilt my way through a book. Now, I have waaaaay too many other projects going on right now to just focus on this undertaking, but I love the book Modern Rainbow so much that I pretty much want to make every quilt in there when I can.

I decided to start with Bubbles, especially when I realized I could use scrap strings that I had waiting around for a purpose. I also needed a new baby quilt, so everyone was happy! Mine is a little--okay a LOT--different from the book, but I totally used Bubbles as my inspiration. This little number is smaller and peachier than its inspiration. I also didn't use strips cut to the same width. I used what I had on hand and trimmed the blocks as I went along to get them up to the proper size.

I bound it in this navy print, which made a few sneak appearances in the log cabin blocks. This is actually a print from a friend's stash that I inherited and is definitely vintage. Kinda fun. Something old in a brand new baby's quilt. There are also prints from so many other quilt projects, including a lot of baby quilts that I've made over the past three years.

That pic also gives you an idea of the quilting. I did a cross grid in the peach sections and straight lines down the center of the log cabins. Nothing in the white "hearths". I should have probably done something there. They're a little poofy. I thought about doing hand quilted hearts. But that would have been too much contrast. Except...what if I had used WHITE thread. Oy. I totally should have done that. Well, too late now! It's been gifted! But next time....

And a shot of the backing. I used two different prints, including that gorgeous blue Juliana Horner print. YUM. I wish I had bought a lot more of that. When I bought it, I was like, I'll only buy a yard because I don't want it to linger in my stash, and now I've already used up most of it! Seriously, I have a couple of small scraps left. That's it. But it was used well, so I can't complain, right?

This was a fun quilt to make. I really enjoyed the improv-y nature of the log cabins. Improv tends to make me nervous and tense, but in this sense, it was completely okay. Controlled improv might be more my game? Or maybe I'm just growing as a quilter? Hmmm. Something to consider.

This is finish #3 from my Q4 FAL list.

A Baby Quilt Start.

Sometimes baby quilt inspiration is easy, and I know exactly what I want to do. But sometimes it's not. In that case, I usually use my go-to baby quilt pattern, Northern Lights by Jaybird Quilts. (I've made three different incarnations.) This time, my ideas kept conspiring against me. I couldn't find a palette that I was happy with. I waffled between colors, finally settling on a blue ombre, but then I couldn't find a blue ombre kona list online. True. Story.

I pulled out my blue stash, but wasn't feeling any inspiration there. I perused fabric stores online but couldn't decide on anything. I pulled out my blue scraps, more out of frustration than anything else, but they were a hot mess, so I started sorting them into itty bitty, larger pieces, and strings. And I had a mountain of strings.

Then, I remembered this idea that I considered a few months ago. Blue Elephant Stitches decided to pick a quilt book and make a version of every quilt in the book. I thought that sounded like a pretty rad idea, but I didn't know of a book where I liked more than three or four things. That changed when I encountered Modern Rainbow by Rebecca Bryan. I LOVE this book. I love almost every single quilt in it. Why not start my own quilt book journey and use this baby quilt as a jumping off point?

I'm working on my version of Bubbles. I used Bryan's hearth size and finished block size as my goal, but my log cabins are improv-y, mostly because my strings were all different sizes. I'm using fewer blocks as I only want a baby size, not a lap size. But this quilt is going to look rad when it's done, and I'm excited about it. I'm also really enjoying the piecing process. Sorting through strings, plucking out the one that works best, trying to keep my lights and darks balanced...ah. This is a happy Audrey.

Or I would be, if I wasn't fighting a cold. It's mild, and I imagine I'll be back to order tomorrow, but can I just whine about it for a minute? And also mention that I've been sucking down this tea, which I was recently gifted for my birthday. It's super tasty.

Can I also just mention that I find it hilarious and ironic that TODAY, Yvonne of Quilting Jetgirl posted the most perfect blue kona ombre list. I'm taking it as a sign that I was supposed to make this quilt instead of the other one. But it's still funny. And I'm totally bookmarking that list in case I need it in the future. And in case you were looking for a blue ombre list...you're welcome.