January 2, 2015

A quilt for my great-niece

 
 
A few months ago, I made a pair of twin baby quilts using Sassafras Lane's Lullaby Lane quilt pattern.  As I was working on those quilts, I realized Michael Miller's Wee Wander collection would work well with this pattern.  So when my niece announced she was expecting a baby girl, I started this quilt for her.
 
 
The panel fit the pattern perfectly, and the firefly fabric worked well for fussy-cutting squares for the border.  I tried a couple of new-to-me quilting designs, with swirls in the sky and a grassy pattern for the foreground.  I originally quilted the fill only within a quarter inch or so of the characters, but that left them a little puffy for my taste.  I decided to try outlining them with charcoal thread, not knowing whether it would work or not.  I was quite pleased with the result:


I used a trapunto technique under the "A" and "M" of the applique.  For the top and bottom borders, I pondered feathers or scrolls, but I couldn't work out how to do them around the flying geese.  I eventually came up with the idea to repeat the triangles across the borders with the quilting.


I added magenta binding and a pinkish backing to make it more "girly."


As I learned with the twin quilts, it doesn't take much additional fabric to get a second quilt with this design, especially if you shop at places with half-yard minimum cuts. (As long as you don't do a lot of fussy cutting, or make cutting mistakes. Ahem.) So there just might be another Lullaby Lane quilt in my future. And Michael Miller's Cotton Couture in Limeade could make for a great sashing with these prints; it's a perfect lightning-bug green. Just sayin'.

We were able to deliver the quilt in person just before Christmas.  What a treat it was to see and hold my new great-niece at only a few days old.

I'm linking up with crazy mom quilts for Finish It Up Friday.


10 comments:

  1. I love it!! All of it. And the swirls in the sky? perfection! Fabulous job!!
    Happy new year ~ Tracy

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  2. this is an absolutely stunning quilt! I love both the front and the back. so adorable...hugs, Julierose

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  3. This is absolutely gorgeous. I love the quilting too.

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  4. Fabulous! I keep petting the Wee Wander fabric at my LQS but haven't pulled the trigger to buy any yet. I just pinned another Wee Wander quilt, so I'm guessing this fabric will soon make its way into my stash!

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  5. I loved it on the first quilts you made with that lovely fabric and I love it on this one too. Although I've put myself on a fabric diet, I may have to sneak a yard or two of this one in.

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  6. What a neat pattern! And your quilting really brings the panel to life. Your great-niece is a lucky little girl.

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  7. Love it! Your quilting just puts it over the top!

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  8. Oh isn't it beautiful! I love that centre panel and it all looks wonderfully right together - lucky great niece!

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  9. Fantastic! You have really made something special and unique with a panel. The quilting is amazing!

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  10. Beautiful quilt, I love how you quilted it and outlined around the characters too.

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