Friday, November 25, 2011

Two new Baby Quilts


A quick post about two quilts I recently made for colleagues who are expecting (separate) babies.
I enjoy making baby quilts. A lot. They offer great opportunities to experiment as they are smallish, and, honestly, the parents are happy with them pretty much no matter what, and the baby won’t have much of an opinion, until he/she is older anyway.
In other posts I’ve ruminated on the meditative aspect of baby quilts, and the thought process that goes into making them. This post is not about that. This post is about the beauty of using fabrics from my stash and repurposing them. 

Here are the two new quilts:
And a close up:
(The colors are more accurate on the close up)
And the second one: 

The tops for both are made entirely from fabrics I already had, all in flannel, saved as remnants from earlier projects (such as PJs for the kids when they were little). The first one is a simple Bargello type pattern (I made a much more complex one Here). Part of the beauty in Bargello is in its simplicity. You sew strips together into one piece, and then sew that piece into a tube. Then you open the tube in different locations to determine the layout. So the first row was opened between fabrics the dark blue and the yellow fabric, the second between the yellow and the froggy fabric, and so on. Then, because I wanted it a bit bigger, I included another row of all the fabrics, which is why the rows begin and end with the same fabric.

The second top is made in one of my all time favorite patterns, the disappearing nine patch. The pattern is fairly simple, and the secret here is in the layout. To make this you sew a nine patch, nine squares of different patterns into a larger square. Then,  you cut the nine patch into four, creating four squares that are larger than the original pieces. Then you lay those out in any pattern you want. For this one I chose to randomize the squares, and then played with them to increase the “random” effect.

Both of these patterns are lots of fun to work with as they yield such different results depending on color and layout. And in the end they bring comfort and cozy cuddles to new babies and their parents.
Really it’s a win-win-win.

3 comments:

  1. I love how you did the 9 patch! that's SO creative!!

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  2. Thanks so much, Sewgreen! I do so love the disappearing nine patch. It's a wonderfully versatile pattern.

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  3. So I was looking on lj and wondering where my comment went! No where! cause I'd posted it here :p So you'll see this twice :p

    I haven't tried the disappearing nine patch yet, I definitely want to!

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