baby quilt – Quest Quilts

Online Market Quilt Showcase 11 – Stadium/School Colors Quilts

Second to last post! The Yellow Daisy Festival Online Market ends tomorrow, Sunday, Sept 13th at 9 pm. I’ve been making some posts about the quilts I have ready to go. Each day I’ve featured two or three quilts and tell about their process and what I like most about them. These and other quilts can be found in the Quest Quilts shop on this website or in my Etsy shop.

Brookwood High Broncos

These little 4′ x 4′ quilts have been around for a while. When I first started making ready-made quilts, I made a bunch in the colors of the local schools, especially ones where I knew my shows would be close to. They’re also conveniently the colors of college and pro teams as well. I liked the idea of school colors but with a subtle nod. I’ve sold a good many, actually, but these last five have hung around. I actually have a bib for the orange and blue, so it would make a good baby gift.

When I made these, I was thinking about people using them on those cold bleachers in the stands while watching football games or band members cuddling up with them during that 3rd quarter break. I remember freezing at many a football game, clutching my mellpphone.

I made these a smaller 4′ x 4′ size so that they could go across a single lap without dragging the ground. I don’t know for sure, but there is a part of me that also thinks they would be a good size for someone who was wheelchair bound.

They are also, conveniently, the perfect size to layout for a baby while outside. The orange and blue quilt has a matching bib, but I would also gladly make a matching bib for any of the other stadium quilts as well if someone wanted it as a baby gift.

Online Market Quilt Showcase 9 – Science, Firefighters, and Boy Scout Quilts

The Yellow Daisy Festival Online Market begins on Tuesday, Sept 8th. In celebration of this, I’m making some posts about the quilts I have ready to go. Each day I’ll feature two or three quilts and tell about their process and what I like most about them. These and other quilts can be found in the Quest Quilts shop on this website or in my Etsy shop.

These four quilts are rounding out the kids’ quilts series. The firefighter quilts come in two sizes. One is 4′ x 5′ and the other is 4′ x 4′. I always thought they would make a great set for an older sibling and a new baby. They feature firefighters and fire engines that have a sort of vintage look. Again, I rather like the non-cartoon look, especially in quilts for younger kids because I feel like they’ll outgrow them slower. Of course, these would also be good quilts for…you know…actual fire fighters. I tried hard to make these fun without being overly childish.

I actually have two of the Boy Scout quilts as well. These are neat because they have smaller details in the fabric. Look closely at some and you’ll see the Oath. My favorite fabric on these quilts is the knot fabric, but the merit badges design is a close second. They have flannel on the back, and I thought they might make a great cover while on a camp out. I played around with the mosaic design here and ended up liking the effect.

I’ll admit something about this science quilt – I thought it would have sold long before now. I just love it. All the periodic table and elements and lab equipment and formulas are so neat and quirky. I love how it could be for a small child but just as easily for a chemistry major in college. I added a matching bib as well because a cute little STEM baby is perfect. The blue flannel backing makes is extra cozy.

Yellow Daisy Festival – Online

Ok, so yes, all of the craft fairs I was exited about were canceled. However the biggest one, the Yellow Daisy Festival in Stone Mountain, GA, decided to help out their vendors as best they could and is going to offer an online market for folks, Sept 8 (starting at 9am) through Sept. 13(ending at 9pm). It won’t be nearly the same experience, but I am excited nonetheless.

In anticipation for that, I will be posting showcase posts throughout the week. Come back throughout the week to see more features.

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Flower Fairy Quilt

For as long as I can remember, I have loved the late Victorian style fairy illustrations, especially those of Cicely Mary Barker. They were enchanting in their simplicity and dreamy color pallets. This would explain why I couldn’t help myself when I came across a fabric panel featuring three pink flower fairies. I normally don’t use fabric panels in my works, but this was so pretty that I couldn’t resist. I bought this fabric months ago and am only now getting around to using it. I also found some purple fabric that also featured a smaller flower fairy design, but they were more of a nighttime look.

Originally, I was going to incorporate the purple fabric as a border around the pink panel, but I decided that it just wasn’t complimentary to either fabric. They were both so pretty that they needed their own space. After some quick measuring, I realized I had enough to make the purple fabric the backing to the pink panel.

For the pink panel, I added some greens to accentuate the leaves and then one last pink border to tie it all together. I wasn’t expecting the corners to be as awesome and picture frame looking as they were, but I’m delighted and might use that design again in other quilts.

Northern Lights Bargello Quilt

This bargello quilt was made for an artist friend who is expecting a little girl at the end of the summer. We’re all super excited for her, and I couldn’t wait to begin working on this.

The pattern is based off of the same bargello pattern I used earlier. I joked that changing the colors out might result in a northern lights effect. When I found out my friend was going for a stream-lined, Swedish decor for the nursery, I thought it might be a good time to try it. Not only that, but she likes to do encaustic paintings!

I found a jelly roll at JoAnn’s that had various blues with a touch of light green. Some of the fabrics in it had a shimmer, so I thought it was perfect. I ended up needing three of them to complete this quilt.

I sewed the stripes together like the pattern said, and then I pinned them up. The only thing I changed for this quilt is that I went up and down a 1/2″ between stripes instead of a 1/4″. I knew I needed the curves to be clear and more drastic than the ones I’d had in the rainbow version.

Here’s the finished top.

And here’s the video of my friend opening up the finished product. The back is gray with a slight gold shimmer. The nursery, as far as I understand, will have some gold accents, so I wanted to tie it in as best I could.

Happy customers!

One thing about making t-shirt quilts and memory quilts is that I don’t often get the see the reaction of the actual recipient. I get to see how much the person who commissioned it likes it, but the actual recipient is rare.

So when a customer shares a picture with me of their quilt being loved by the recipient, I cherish it. I’ve gone through and collected some of my favorite pictures from over the years of people loving on their quilts that I made. It’s a good smile for a Friday.

Tyler — Most recent graduation quilt gifted!

T-shirt quilt 1 — The original memory quilt! First one ever made – for my grandmother.

33688177_1716682991751551_1877200570083704832_n — I think he likes it!

32710763_1706808236072360_2262404856738217984_n — She loved hers so much she brought it to school. My heart!

25348268_1561077040645481_6289983730825439194_n — Pre-school director gets a neat one.

21462804_1476135305806322_8678307598303717600_n — It’s not a quilt, but my dog is definitely a happy recipient.

19399131_1401757319910788_7221197160371787865_n — My buddy loves his Star Wars quilt.

15977621_1237244413028747_6174561837179432854_n — Loved this silhouette quilt almost as much as the new mom.

15781480_1229221060497749_7628115571232233057_n — My husband with this surprise king-size mariner’s compass quilt.

A memory quilt made from dress shirts and t-shirts. This is the mother holding it after it was gifted to her as a surprise.

A graduate holding her t-shirt quilt. I think she liked it.

11043014_10206222346383073_6757689917035449332_n — Baby quilt made from panels for my niece.

52461558_10102690979437903_2338337288666218496_n — Little buddy cuddling with daddy’s Darth Vader quilt.

Woodland Creatures Baby Quilt

This quilt was for a friend as a surprise at her baby shower. I knew we wanted to tie in to her overall theme of woodland creatures, and I did several searches for different images. In the end, I went with the images on her actual shower invitation. (She loves sloths, so we snuck in one of those as well!)

I traced the images onto basic copy paper and then retraced them backwards onto fusible interfacing.

From there, the layering process began. I had to trace each layer backwards onto the fusible interfacing as well and then iron them on top of one another. I’ll admit there were several times here where I thought of different ways to simplify, but in the end it just wouldn’t do. The fox was simplified accidentally, but that was about it.

From there, I ironed them into place and used a large mushroom top to hide their bottoms behind because the original images were cropped as well. It look some rearranging before I finally hit this layout.

Going back and adding in the white “light spots” on the eyes was one of the best moves I did. Before that, they looked cute but kind of flat. They had a deadpan look that kept them lifeless. The sloth, especially, looked somewhat stoned.

And one again, I added a close-set zigzag stitch to finish off the applique elements.

The reason everything was right at the bottom was because we intended for people to be able to sign the quilt with well-wishes for the new family.

What a fun baby quilt this was to make!

Here’s a video of the sweet soon-to-be parents receiving their surprise!

The Flash Baby Quilt

My sister is very good at getting me out of my comfort zone when it comes to quilt designs. She’s not a quilter herself, but she has a great eye for detail and can think up some really fun ideas. So when she asked me to make a baby quilt for a friend that was Flash-themed, I knew it was going to be fun.

I looked around online and found a few ideas. Some of them were gorgeous, but I didn’t have the time to devote to them. And then I found this minimalist poster from Andres Romero. He’s done a bunch of them, and the simplicity was promising.

We decided that this image was perfect, and we would add in some type of full-bodied image at the bottom, maybe with the running motion.

The actual face was easy because I just appliqued the shapes on.

After that, I did the same for the running figure. We played around with the idea of having gray gradient figures spaced out behind him, but time constraints prevented that. So I decided that I would use a quilting design echoing behind him to get the same effect. I like how it turned out.

Flash quilt detail

I quilted over the whole thing with an homage to the lightening shown behind Flash in comics while he’s running. It does look a bit like a heartbeat, though. Oh well.

My sister picked out a Super Friends themed fabric for the backing.

With so many angles, I decided to soften it a bit by curving the edges. I like the overall effect!

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