neutral good | a quilt for Luca James

One of my oldest friends recently had her second baby girl and when I asked her a few months ago what she was thinking for a quilt she said, "is it weird if I send you this for inspiration?" and sent me a whole instagram account, haha. After scrolling through @milena_silvano for weeks, this is what I came up with. I loved choosing solid neutral fabrics for a change since usually everything I make is full of color and pattern and print, and putting the quilt top together was like a puzzle. Quilting always energizes me and helps keep me sane but this one felt different. It was challenging to work with fabrics I wouldn't normally use and still trust that the end result would be what I hoped it would be. I loved making this quilt for Luca James, thinking about how it will keep her warm and cozy during what will definitely be a cold MI winter, and how, more importantly, my friends will raise her to be a warm and caring person. That has nothing to do with quilting, I know, but it's that kind of thinking that gives me hope for the future. Also, unrelated, but I watched the entire first season of Emily in Paris while I made this quilt. I didn't love the show, but Pierre Cadeau cracking the tops of an entire tray of creme brulee is a whole mood. 

 

tiny tiles III | another quilt for Lenora

My friend Jess's daughter recently graduated to a big girl bed so she needed a new quilt. Jess sent me a picture of the color inspiration for her room and asked me to make the tiny tiles quilt (a free pattern from Purl Soho) because she loved the last one I made. I had fun using up lots of scraps and little bits of fabric I've been saving. I used my precious Heather Ross snails on the back and bound it with - what else - scraps. I made my family drive all the way to Beavertail for pictures because it's Jess's favorite place in Rhode Island and I thought it would be a fun family adventure. It was, until Matt and Ezra got soaked by a wave and Ezra spent the rest of the afternoon airing his socks and sneakers on a fence in the sun. Then we got Tallulah's for dinner, another one of Jess's favorites. Next time she's on the East Coast we'll all go together!

 

bold hope | a quilt for Nolan

My friend Jess asked me to make this quilt for a friend of hers who is pregnant with a baby boy. Unfortunately, he has some health complications and will need heart surgery as soon as he's born. Jess wanted to encourage her friend while her son is the hospital in those early days. This quilt is simple and bold at the same time. As I made it I prayed for Nolan and his family, hoping that the outcome of his surgery will be successful and that his life will be better than anyone dreams. 

big blocks | a quilt for Zachary

Our friends welcomed their second baby boy over a year ago and I started a quilt for him when his mom Elena was pregnant with him. It wasn't turning out how I wanted it to and I got stuck which doesn't usually happen for me. I usually know what I want to make but this quilt just wasn't working. I put it aside and as the months passed I felt worse and worse that he didn't have a quilt. A couple months ago I found this cute fabric on sale that I thought would make a nice back for a little boy and that helped me get started again. I scrapped the old quilt entirely and pulled new fabrics from my stash based on the backing fabric. I sort of copied a piece of modern art to make the design for the front. It's really simple, just a bunch of blocks, but I liked how I didn't have to cut up the fish print. The top came together quickly and since I already had a backing I was able to finish it up right away. I dropped it off at their house and now Zachary has a quilt so he doesn't have to steal his big brother Benjamin's! 

 

#scrappysummerqal2020 | a quilt for Eliana

I saw this cute quilt some Instagram friends were making this summer and decided to join in. Quilt alongs are always good for me because they keep me on schedule and push me outside of my comfort zone. I loved fussy cutting so many fun fabrics for the centers of the plus sign blocks and I used up tons of low volume scraps for the background. My only regret is that I used an unknown fuchsia solid and it must not have been my usual Kona cotton because it bled in the wash even though I used a color catcher in two separate washes. One of my first quilting friends commented a few times throughout the QAL that she loved the quilt and that made it easy for me to decide who to give it to because she had just had her second baby girl. I know Carole Ann was happy to receive it and Eliana will spend the winter snuggled up!  

tiny tiles II | a quilt for Cecelia

I love this free pattern from Purl Soho and have made it three time so far and I have more squares cut out so I can make a fourth! I'm a little disappointed in this quilt because I didn't realize I used two different whites. Bummer. At least the backing is perfect! 

 

a quilt for Louie

Our friends Jess and Chad were about to welcome their second child and I still hadn't figured out what to make for him. I asked Jess to send some inspo and she told me the room was travel themed. Not much to go on. Luckily, she's not picky and tells me all the time how much she loves every quilt I've ever made so I wasn't worried. I chose a bunch of fabrics, pulling the colors from the Cotton + Steel arrow print, and matched them in pairs. Then I sewed strips and chopped them up and sewed them back together. It was like a big puzzle to make it all fit together, and I ended up making some extra strips at the end because, as usual, the top turned out smaller than I thought it would. I backed it in stars and gingham, quilted a random straight line grid, and made a scrappy binding. I have to admit that I wasn't loving this quilt at first and it took me  a while to feel like it was going to turn out okay. I had actually started making it for a different baby months ago but it felt wrong for him to so I stopped working on it. Once I decided to reimagine it for Jess's baby I was excited about the project and now I'm really happy with how it came out. And the best part is Jess loves it! She even brought it along to their family photos. 

 

treasure jars | a quilt for Emily and Steve

I started making this quilt about four years ago. I individually selected and cut each fabric. Pieced the top. Thought about who I wanted to give it to. Chose the perfect backing fabric for that person (a field of wildflowers reminiscent of the field behind her great uncle's house where she wants to get married some day), and I made the binding. Got stuck because it's such a big quilt and I didn't want to quilt it on my home machine. Also sometimes I feel like I need a reason to give someone a quilt (false! - quilts are always good to give, even if it's just a regular Tuesday) and I didn't have the perfect reason yet. Years pass. Intended recipient meets future husband. I have a reason! Finally figure out how I want to quilt it and actually do it. Decide when I want to give quilt to recipient, now recipients. Intended recipient marries husband. Self-imposed deadline has now passed, alas. Sew the binding on. Decide I don't like the label I made and rip it out. Begin new hand embroidered label. Next self-imposed deadline passes. Finally finish label. Wash and dry quilt so it's squishy and snuggly. Give quilt to my dear friends on a regular Sunday for no reason other than my love for them.  

finally fractal | a quilt for Matt

Many years ago I told Matt I wanted to make a quilt for the studio (the room at the back of our house that used to be a screened in three season room that we converted to a studio for blueflash). I was going to use a camera pattern I found for free somewhere, but I wasn't that enthusiastic about the plan and I kept putting it off. Then he started using the studio less and less and it didn't really make sense to make a quilt for the studio anymore, but I still wanted to make a quilt for him and he felt like I owed him one, haha. He said he wanted it to have something to do with math? I was very confused and uninspired. We scrolled through the vastness of the internet and eventually he found a sketch of a fractal in rainbow colors that he liked. I was surprised by his choice because I expected him to want something a lot more subdued, but I started sketching and shopping for fabric. The quilt I planned for would be pretty big so it was overwhelming. I had to deal with cutting pieces of fabric that were much bigger than what I usually work with and I kept getting stuck on partial seams. Typically I like to work without a pattern and see how things turn out, but this was working without a pattern and needing the quilt to turn out exactly as it should because, well, fractals and math in general, I guess. Matt ended up having to help me figure out the ratios because I kept cutting the pieces just slightly too small. Once I got to the larger pieces I was still getting stuck and I can't remember why, but I took all my supplies and went to my friend Lorraine's house because I've never brought her a sewing dilemma that she can't solve. Sure enough, she figured everything out and we finished the quilt top that night. I planned on loading it onto her long arm machine to quilt it but I realized the minky back fabric that Matt wanted would poke through and likely end up ruining the top, so I took it home and mentally prepared for quilting a gigantic quilt on my home machine. I decided to quilt a spiral to contrast with the hard lines and angles of the top. It turned out mostly okay but the quilt is so heavy that I struggled to get smooth lines at first. The most important thing is that it's done! For years, any time Matt saw me work on a project other than his quilt (which was 95% of the time) he would ask, "is that my quilt?" and I always told him no. It became a joke between us, and eventually I was so annoyed by the question that I told him that when the quilt was finally done I was going to dump it unceremoniously in his lap, and that's exactly what I did! 

stacked stripes | a quilt for Miles

Our friends Alex and Andy recently welcomed their second baby into their lives, a boy who they named Miles. I asked Alex to send me some pictures of his nursery and pulled inspiration from the colors of the decor. The striped sections were improvised and then I added strips of charcoal linen and polka dots on cream to make it bigger. As you can see, the photos were quite the group effort. Alex was kind enough to send me some photos of Miles and big sister Emory on the quilt in the nursery. I love how it turned out and I hope Alex does too!