a quilt for Penelope

Like many quilters, whenever I find out a good friend is pregnant I immediately start thinking about what kind of quilt to make. Olga sews and makes quilts, too, so I asked if she had a plan for the nursery or any preference for fabrics or patterns. She asked if I would use a collection of fabric that she had called Sweet as Honey, and I knew she liked hexagons after she sent me screenshots of several vintage quilts that were made of teeny tiny hand sewn hexies. I regretfully told Olga that I wasn't up for hand sewing, but that I would try to make something she would like. I sent her a few ideas and one of them was for this triangle star quilt block. Once I got the go ahead from her I started cutting, using my regular rectangular ruler and the 60° line which took a little getting used to, but eventually I got all 250+ triangles cut out. I sewed two rows together and lost steam because the triangles were hurting my brain. My rows kept getting skewed because I wasn't lining the triangles up right so I gave up for a while. They stayed on my design wall for ages, falling down in the humidity of the summer and early fall and getting kicked around by Matt and the boys, ending up in the hallway and wedged in the door jamb. Amazingly, I didn't lose any and finally started sewing again after the baby was born. Penelope didn't mind though, and I finished up at the end of September, if I remember correctly, only a couple months after she was born.

The back is a few Kona blues that I had on hand along with some of the Sweet as Honey fabric that Olga provided me with. I love scrappy backs and this one is no exception. I can't even remember how I quilted it, but I think it's free motion random loops which are very forgiving for a novice free motion quilter like me. The binding is scrappy, too, made from two different fabrics from the Sweet as Honey line. Sometimes it's nice not to have to make a lot of decisions about a quilt, and using one collection definitely simplifies things. Hopefully this quilt will help keep Penelope warm and cozy this winter!