soft squares | a quilt for Lucia

Our friends Cal and Olga were expecting there first baby, a girl who they named Lucia (Lulu for short!), and I was inspired by Olga's nursery pinterest board to make a super simple and pretty quilt. Bonnie Christine's fabrics were perfect with their soft colors and florals. I didn't want to cut up the fabrics too much so I went with a simple square in a square pattern. I knew Olga liked it when she kept it on her lap as she opened the rest of her gifts and then again later when she posted a photo of it on the side of the crib on instagram :)

retro bloom | a quilt for Siena

Last month I was at Hobby Lobby (my least favorite craft store but it's across the street from Trader Joe's so sometimes I go there for the convenience factor) because I desperately needed webbing. While I was waiting for the webbing to be cut I browsed through the clearance fabric bin and found a cheater print that I deemed cute enough to buy 1.5 yards of. A friend of mine recently had her second baby girl and I hadn't made a quilt yet so this would be perfect! I chose one of Heather Ross's Kinder fabric prints (I love those paper cut boys and girls!) and paired it with some Denyse Schmidt dots and I think an old Amy Butler print for the back. Simple quilting on either side of where all the seams would be if this patchwork actually had seams and a solid aqua binding finishes the project. I love a quick and cute baby quilt!

bright blossoms | a quilt for Elsie

I think scrap quilts are my favorite to make and this one was really fun! It's winter here in New England so pulling all these bright and cheery fabrics for a baby girl was like sunshine on many cloudy days. I decided to fussy cut some Aneela Hoey fabric to feature her little illustrations (I like the outfits the best) and then made random courthouse steps blocks. I kept adding coordinating fabric strips until they fit together. I brought the quilt to church to give it to Elsie's parents and I asked my boys to hold it up for a quick picture. As you can see we weren't all that successful, but it'll do!

Here's the little sweetie with her new quilt, and with her sister's quilt as a background. Each Belanger girl has a quilt made by me and it's always nice to see them pop up in Dawn and Andrew's photos from time to time.

building blocks | a quilt for Zachary

Recently my brother's best friend Jonathan and his wife Anita welcomed a baby boy into the world. They're high school sweethearts and weirdly I always wanted them to get married because I thought they'd have beautiful babies - I was right! Also weirdly, I googled their baby registry so I could see how they were decorating the nursery so my mom and I could make a quilt to match. We loved a design by Rossie and basically copied it to make this for little Zachary. There are so many cute nature-y fabrics in this quilt! Heather Ross's frogs, Lizzy House's constellations and hedgehogs, Carolyn Friedlander's botanics, and Annie Brady's moose and bears and foxes and birch trees. And there's rice! Anita's family owns a local Chinese restaurant (shout out to Dragon Garden in North Attleboro!) so I thought that was a cute addition. I picked out the fabric and pieced the top and back and my mom quilted and bound it. I love a good quilt collab. Here's hoping this quilt brings Zachary warmth and comfort! Scroll down for one more photo with the little darling :)

hope | a quilt for Sara

Our good friends' sister Sara was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. She has two little ones and my heart went out to her as a fellow mom. I've made quilts for both of her babies (here and here) and when I learned of Sara's diagnosis I knew I wanted to make her a quilt too. I've loved Denyse Schmidt's hope tote pattern for years and I've made too many to count, but I'm still not tired of it and I thought the "hope" patchwork would be a nice focal point for a quilt, especially when we're all hoping for the best outcome for Sara. I wanted to make something simple so I could get it to Sara quickly, and I didn't want to detract from the message I'm sending so I used large pieces of coordinating fabric to border the word. I used scraps for the letters - the Rifle Paper Co. letter E is my favorite - and the background is a gray linen. I added more neutrals to fill out the center column and then used a large piece of Kona coral for the borders, and I have to say I love how it came out. These photos aren't the most flattering; the lighting is so harsh, but I really like how it looks in person. Anyway, I love the back of the quilt just as much as the front. I used so many good fabrics - Rifle Paper Co., adorable blackberries, tiny pink polka dots, and a pretty botanical print. I quilted it on my friend Lorraine's long arm in a random swirly pattern with some hearts and stars thrown in. I've only long arm quilted two other quilts so I'm still learning and it's definitely got some flaws but overall I think it came out well. Either way, I hope it will still serve its purpose and offer warmth and comfort to Sara and her family as they endure this trial.