sunshine and stripes | a quilt for Zara

One of Matt's old friends moved into our neighborhood a few years ago and she and her husband just welcomed their third baby girl into their family. I wanted to make her a quilt so I used scraps of Yucatan fabric by Annie Brady for Moda using the quilt as you go method. I used a big piece of Carolyn Friedlander architextures, some Heather Ross kinder, and C+S stars on the back. I quilted some horizontal lines along the side seams to hold it all together and bound it in more architextures. We took it on our houseboat staycation to take a few pictures at the Fox Point Marina. As usual I had some pretty good quilt holders to help me out :)

a quilt for Audrey | stars and hexagons

I have a few more quilts to blog about before I'm all caught up, and then I'll be making a new wave of quilts! So many of my friends are pregnant at the same time - currently I have seven baby quilts to make this year, all before the end of July! And there's no telling who else will announce that they're expecting before the end of the year. Anyway, I made this quilt for my friend Hillary's daughter, Audrey, before she was born, and she'll be two in just a few short weeks.

Hillary liked the look of stars and hexagons, so I pieced together some large hexies and let the negative space create the stars. It's difficult to see in the photos, but some of the white hexagons are actually made of a really sweet pink on white flocked polka dot fabric.

Some other sweet details are these little strawberries, funny olives, and lots of florals.

It's quilted with simple straight lines to outline the hexagons. I made this quilt in December of 2012, and looking at these pictures makes me realize how much my skills have improved since then! It's nice to look back and be able to see progress.

The backing is a large cut of a Heather Bailey print, a strip of pink seersucker (I love using seersucker in baby quilts, it makes them so soft!), and one other random pink print I had in my stash.

It's bound in the pink seersucker, too. I think we all know I love a stripey binding!

I wrote this label out on the morning of Hillary's shower and brought it with me so my mom could hand stitch it on for me! I have exactly zero hand stitching skills (really need to work on that) and my mom is always kind enough to help me out. Usually I try to piece a square of fabric into the backing so I can just write directly on the quilt, but I didn't do that here.

And just this past weekend Matt helped me put my idea for a quilt label into an actual design that I'm having printed! I can't wait to use them. These are the things that get a quilter excited :)

Now I have to get to work on a quilt for Audrey's little sister! She's due in May but I had the colored pencils out today so I could start sketching out a design. Coming up with a plan is one of my favorite parts!

wonderland | a quilt for Emory

Edit: I gave this quilt to our friends Alex and Andy when they were expecting their daughter Emory in May of 2015.

Again with the quilt names lacking in imagination - I'm calling this one Wonderland after the fabric collection I used in it. Busy and scrappy, this quilt is a delight to the senses! It's soft and cuddly, perfect for wrapping babies and toddlers in, and it doubles as an I Spy quilt! You can spend time with your child looking for butterfly wings, meadows, scissors, and two pincushions! 

The back is a bold Heather Bailey print, some scrappy blocks leftover from the front, and a strip of a nice neutral fabric I found in my stash that is a relic from the second quilt I made! See the listing for Wonderland in my shop here!

P.S. Speaking of I Spy quilts, did you know that my mom made Ezra one when I had Finn? It's quite different from this (as this isn't a true I Spy quilt) and we spend lots of time searching for all the fun prints she included. Check it out here on her blog!