Hourglass Curves baby quilt
My last finished quilt of 2024 is also my first quilt finished in my new sewing studio!
I planned out the binding and zigzag-stitched it in place last Friday.
For the first time in weeks, the sun was shining. Good timing because I was able to switch off the lights in my studio, using the newly-installed switch, so as to enjoy natural lighting again. Aaaaaah… so refreshing.
This 45” square baby quilt is a gift for a new friend of mine. She’s expecting her first baby any time now. This friend has an elegant, minimalistic style. At the time that I planned this quilt she was trying to decide between dark neutrals or light neutrals in the nursery. That’s when I realized that the silk scraps I had been gifted would be perfect for her project.
My Hourglass Curves quilt is sewn with drunkard’s path blocks. It’s straightforward curved piecing, which suited these bridal gown silk scraps just fine. The silk is crisp like quilting cotton, but lightweight as silk will be. Since I used cream silk for the background of every block and for the medium brown blocks, the overall weight of the finished quilt is significantly lighter than a cotton quilt.
I didn’t use interfacing for the silk or any kind of starch. It just wasn’t necessary. My impression is that mixing it with quilting cotton presents no drawbacks. The cut silk doesn’t unravel, like linen, and everything feels stable. I still have more silk leftover, which I will surely use in time.
For the backing I combined two leftover apparel fabrics. They each have a soft touch, which is perfect for a baby quilt.
I’m looking forward to surprising my friend with this gift at our next book club meeting, just after Christmas! Thank goodness for babies.
p.s. I wonder if she will be my last friend to have a baby? I am nearing that point in my life. Perhaps a new tradition is in order - quilts gifted to the parents when children move out of the home? That is a milestone also worth celebrating.
My Hourglass Curves quilt is sewn with drunkard’s path blocks. It’s straightforward curved piecing, which suited these bridal gown silk scraps just fine. The silk is crisp like quilting cotton, but lightweight as silk will be.
This sweet crib quilt is finished at last, as a double-sided quilt. The elegant Nineteen Thirty Medallion is the star of one side and classic 2” finished patchwork offers a cozy alternative on the other.
For a Limited Time! The Nineteen Thirty Medallion is now available as a pattern excerpt thanks to the special request of one of my most faithful readers.
“Work-in-progress” sets such a forgiving and patient tone, don’t you think? That is definitely the attitude I’ve needed for this baby quilt, since I have constantly second-guessed myself in the making process. I have struggled in part because I really, really want it to be lovely for my friend and also because I don’t have much experience with soft color schemes.
On Monday I got to hold baby Livia for the first time! Such sweetness. Her quilt is coming along. Would you like to see? Choosing fabrics for the center medallion flower was challenging. It’s a totally different look than my original Nineteen Thirty quilt.
I think she will like it. I hope she will like it. Minimalist and simple is rather hard for me. I so easily stray. I think that things were going well when I created the patchwork design and chose a color palette, but it’s possible that they got out of hand when it came to quilting - - -
It’s time to make a baby quilt for my friend with a minimalist style. Luckily, I have just such a quilt in mind. It is a design related to my Transparency block. Ok, so that block didn’t turn out minimalist in my first Pas de Deux quilt, but the design can be quite understated. Pinky promise!
Quilter’s Color Quest invited you to deepen your relationship with color, based on my book The Quilter’s Field Guide to Color. Didn’t get a chance? I’m cataloging all the posts here, so you can work your way through when the time is right.
It’s super exciting that so many of you are going to join in on our Dear Dottie sew-along! This weekend I finished my baby-sized Dear Dottie quilt. It’s a 32” square of scrap happy dots with cinnamon roll swirl quilting. Fun, fun, fun!
Last week, I pulled out those alphabet scraps and started cutting. I had no idea what kind of patchwork I would sew, but I wanted to make a baby quilt. Something simple. Something sweet.
A finished quilt! Now off it goes to Wrap Them in Love, where I hope some special little one will enjoy imagining the stories behind these pages or creating her own in the clouds, as they drift by.
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