Quilts for Fabulous Kids

For him...

Last year I made quilts as Christening gifts for my niece and nephew. It was, as usual, a bit of a rush to get them finished and wrapped so in all the haste I forgot to take photos. I am therefore absolutely delighted that my sister-in-law just sent me some photos of the quilts. She has enough on her plate looking after the kids without me pestering her for pictures that flatter my sewing ego!

For my nephew I made a Charm Squares Baby Quilt (don't tell him though - he's nearly 4, not a baby!).

I got lucky with the material in my stash at the time. I had splurged on gorgeous fabrics from Celtic Fusion Fabrics - an affordable indulgence with their Fabric Smallies. The fat eighths in these packs are perfect for cutting up for the right size charm squares and half squares.

This quilt used one pack including some prints from Carolyn Gavin's Spring Street Collection (I've link to a posting on another site back in 2011 as the fabric is no longer available on the Celtic Fusion site), some lovely bright dots and stripes - I think both were from Kauffman - and a Tanya Wheelan white spot on blue. The sashing is a solid ecru, the backing is a green gingham, and the binding is orange spot on red.

I loved using this pattern and have every intention of doing it again. It's so simple and really allows the fabrics to shine. My quilting could be better but it was the first time I'd tried free motion quilting!

As the quilt is for a very special occasion I hand embroidered my nephew's name on one of the squares. 



For her...

For my niece I came up with my own creation inspired by the hand-pieced patchwork (English Paper Piecing) my Mum created when I was very small. I used various scraps of pink fabrics to make the flowers with this method. I then ironed the flowers flat before removing the papers. The ironing keeps the edges neat. I could then attach them to the background by top stitching the whole way 'round the flower in a zigzag stitch. The background is a patterned white and the backing is pink gingham.

See that pink gingham flower in the centre? That was the fabric decorating the jar of sugar almonds I was given as a wedding favour at my sister-in-law and her husband's wedding. Their little girl has a bit of their wedding in her quilt. And her name is hand embroidered on one flower.


I'm not entirely happy with this quilt. I used some cheap batting and it was a big mistake. It has too high a loft so the free motion quilting didn't work well. I just wish I'd learned this lesson on a less significant project. Ah well, it's still cute.