Ever since my sister's friend Sherri got married, she has been asking me to make a baby quilt from her wedding dress.  I have known Sherri and her family for longer than I can even remember. So after many years of patiently waiting, Sherri and her Husband Dan were finally expecting! I, of course, was so excited when I heard the great news. I was looking forward to making a quilt for their new baby girl.

Sherri let me have complete control of the design and fabric selection for the quilt. Her only request was that her new daughter's name, Realla-June, be stitched somewhere on the quilt. She didn't even want to see the quilt until it was finished.  So what do you make when the sky's the limit? It is surprisingly a hard choice.  

One element that helped me make the decision is that Sherri's wedding dress was white and red. I wanted to select fabrics that complimented the red. I knew almost immediately that I wanted to use Moda's Miss Kate by Bonnie and Camille. I've used this fabric line before and with red and aqua, it really is the sweetest.

For the pattern I adapted the blocks used in Thimble Blossoms "A Piece of Cake" pattern. I wanted to add a band of wedding dress white and applique Realla-June's name in bold fabric letters to the quilt about 3/4's of the way down the quilt top. I was having trouble finding the perfect font to use for the applique, when I had a great idea.  What better font than a Mother's own handwriting? I asked Sherri to write the baby's name on a piece of paper and take a photo of it. From there I blew up the photo, traced it on the fabric and then satin-stitched the name onto the wedding dress.

As part of my 2015 quilty resolution, I continue to make the quilts that I want to make based on my own ideas and inspiration.

A long while ago, I picked up a sweet little charm pack of a fabric line called "Little Apples", by Aneela Hoey.  The fabric reads like a storybook, complete with hula hoops, apple trees, turtles and squirrels.  I love the colour palette, red, white and aqua.
 
I had been waiting for the perfect inspiration to hit to use it up. I've wanted to make a cross quilt (like these by Cora Quilts) for quite awhile now, but I kept asking myself, has this type of quilt be overdone?  To be honest, I still haven't grown tired of them.  They are so sweet and many quilters keep finding new and fresh ways to make them. 

I decided that rather than piece the quilt in a cross pattern I would use the quilting to create a subdued cross pattern. I kept my quilt piecing quite simple by using all 2" squares, white and patterned.  I switched up the colours of thread used in the quilting.  I used white, grey, aqua and only one cross of red for emphasis. 

When you stand away from the quilt, you can see the crosses in the quilt.  I love this effect!  Can you see it?

For the backing I used Cherie, by Frances Newcombe for Art Gallery Fabrics.  I love this fabric, and I really hope to use more of it.

This quote completely describes my vision of perfect recipient of this quilt.  What do you think?

The overall finished size of the quilt is 36" x 36", just perfect for a baby girl!

A friend from College, Frances, approached me not too long ago about commissioning a quilt for her baby. She is expecting a little girl and I could not be happier for her!  She wanted a classic and stylish colour palette and pattern for her quilt.  Frances selected a mostly red and aqua palette for her quilt.  I have always wanted to make a quilt using this palette!  I mean, red and aqua? Can it get more adorably sweet?! Swoon.

Now, I typically name my baby quilts after the babies that receive them.  However in this case, since it will still be awhile before this little lady will make her appearance, I will temporarily name this quilt after the fabric line in which it is made from, Moda's Miss Kate.

I'm thinking that I may need to make a big girl version of this for myself!

A little while ago I was approached to make a baby quilt for a friend who was expecting her first Grandbaby, Silas.  The Parents-to-be wanted a blue/orange colour scheme, but weren't too particular on the design.  

We selected the adorable Riley Blake's One for the Boys and found that the fabric was perfect for the colour scheme.  The majority of the fabrics in this line were pretty subdued.  There was one orange fabric that seemed to pop out.  

During a staff meeting at my day job (I promise I really was paying attention), I sketched out some ideas that would make the orange fabric pop.  The idea was to have the orange fabric "bounce" throughout the quilt.

After a little bit of playing, this was the final design.  

The top was quilted with a navy blue straight line quilting and a soft taupe minky was used on the back.