Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Baby Quilts--Twinning


I'm from a small town.  Much like our online quilting community, I love how a small town can bring everyone together.  We come together in times of need and we come together in times of celebration.  Today, my story is a story of celebration.

Let's change gears...I HATE buying cars.  I hate the "game" behind it.  I LOATH large car dealerships and all the smoke and curtains and back and forth that comes with car buying.   I'm pretty sure you know what I'm talking about.  I do however, love trading cars with a local dealership, Number One Auto Sales, in my town.  It's owned by a wonderful family.  We usually work with the son and both David and I walk away feeling like it's been a great experience.  They make you feel like family.  So when I found out that he and his wife were expecting (twins!), I knew I wanted to make quilts to help them celebrate their beautiful girls.

As luck would have it, the expecting dad's sister is also my daughter's English teacher (see how this small town thing works) and I just happened to have her phone number.  I contacted her, and told her about my idea to make quilts.  I wanted her input because, technically I didn't know the expecting couple well enough to know what their taste may be.  I wanted to make something a bit more modern for the babies and nothing too matchy-matchy.  So after some fabric pulls, I got a thumbs up on my fabric choices.


I chose Framed Baby Quilt by Christine Weld, a free pattern on Moda Bake Shop.  I loved the simple modern feel to the quilt and felt the small squares would be perfect for showing off the beautiful prints in the charm packs; Windsor Lane by Bunny Hill for Moda and Atrium by Joel Dewberry.

To construct the little four patch units for the border, I used a method, I believe that was in a pattern I once made by Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company.


I started off by cutting the charms in half and sewing two halves together.  I then took those units and pieced them together to form a long strip.


I then cut a 2 1/2" strip from the front of the strip set and set it aside.


Next, I folded the blue and pink strip at the seam on top of the next unit, made sure everything lined up and trimmed, creating a four patch bock.  I continued until I had all the pieces I needed and in no time the first top was completed.

When it came to the quilting, I decided to keep it simple and quilted the first one very similar to how the quilt in the pattern was quilted.  Hey, sometimes, if it's not broke, don't fix it.


I stitched lines every inch and half inch in the center and outer borders.  The only difference from the pattern quilt is I stitched continuous curves in the pieced border to break things up a bit.  




For my quilting threads I pulled from my trusty Aurifil stash.  I used #2405 Oyster in my bobbin.  For the quilt top, I used #5011 Rope Beige for the lines and #2405 Oyster the continuous curve.  To stitch the flange of the binding to the top of the quilt I used #1100 Red Plumb.

I did change the quilting on the second quilt a bit.  Instead of echoing the rectangle shape in the center of the quilt I added triangles to the mix.  Just like the twins, they are similar but different. 




This time I used Aurifil #2605 Gray to stitch the lines with # 1100 Red Plumb in the bobbin and #2405 Oyster to stitch the continuous curves and the flange of the binding.


Miss Caroline (teeny tiny fuzz) gave me fits over these quilts.  Because she is the baby, she 100% felt they should be hers.  Every time I turned around she was sleeping or sitting on them.  So after my photo shoot outside I had to wash them again and hide them in the closet in a gift bag.  Why the closet?  1) so Caroline would stay off them and 2) her kitty brother, Oliver, wouldn't eat the ribbon handles of the bags.  Kids...sigh.

Yesterday, a little over a month after the birth of the twins, I dropped the gift bag off to Mr. Number One Auto.  I left the package with one of the salesman because I saw he was busy with a customer.  Feeding those babies is super important so I did not want to interrupt a sale.  Hopefully, they love the quilts and the girls will make fond memories with them.  

How about a few more quilt shots before we wrap things up?



The first time I got to use my labels from ikaprint.



Also around the time I started working on these quilts, my sewing space changed up a bit.  Since, David is giving this thing we call quilting a go, we decided to invest in a second machine.  We were able to get a great deal on a used machine that was a class machine at a local quilt shop.  It's the next step up from the machine I currently had and it's been worth every penny.  After purchasing a second set of shelves to hold quilting goodies, this is how our shared space is looking.


We still have some kinks to work out, but it's serving its purpose.  Right now it actually looks like a disaster area (I'm not sure why I felt like I needed to tell you that)

Also, the 2016 New Bloggers Block Hop kicked back off Monday.  If you have some times, please make sure you check out the new post-ers and show them some love.

For my hive The Sewcial Network posting this week was:
Sharon of Yellow Cat Designs
Amanda of This Mom Quilts
Laurel of Quilts By Laurel
Marla of Penny Lane Quilts

Also stop by the host's page to read about the bloggers posting from their hives and sign up for a chance to enter some pretty cool give aways.
Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl
Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs
Stephanie at Late Night Quilter



Come join the party!  Today I'm linking up with TGIFF Let's Bee Social and Can I Get a Whoop! Whoop!

17 comments:

Yvonne from Quilting Jetgirl said...

I love that each quilt is similar but slightly different, even down to the quilting. Beautifully done and I really hope the quilts are a special treat and well loved.

Sandra Walker said...

Love seeing these two quilts I your line! You nailed it in colour design quilting and modern feel. Wow. I love how talk about your town and the interconnectedness therein. We bought our appliances from our town furniture place and we got better deals and better service than we'd have gotten from Best Buy.

Lisa J. said...

I also think it's great that the quilts are similar but different. I love the modern simplicity of the quilts and the fun fabric choices. That's a nice sewing space that you and Dave are sharing there.

Jennifer said...

The baby quilts are beautiful, similar, but very different. How wonderful that you and David share an interest in quilting.

Jennifer said...

The baby quilts are beautiful, similar, but very different. How wonderful that you and David share an interest in quilting.

KaHolly said...

Your baby quilts are adorable! I wish I had someone to quilt with!

Beth @ Cooking Up Quilts said...

That's a clever way to make four patches - thanks so much for sharing that method! Congrats on your finishes. :)

Karen @ Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats said...

You are very thoughtful! I am sure no one else has ever made that beautiful of a gift for their car salesman! They will love those quilts, I am sure. Interesting way to make a 4-patch.

JanineMarie said...

Such sweet quilts! I really like how they are unique but go together--perfect twinness. I forgot about that way to use charms to make 4-patches. That worked really well for you for spreading out the various fabrics. And your shared quilting space just makes me smile, not because of the space really, but the shared quilt enthusiasm.

Sharon said...

Both quilts are adorable! and the tutorial you offered on making the charms into 4 patches is great, must try. I think I will make one for Project Linus in the near future. So cool that Dave is having fun with sewing and quilting!

Stitchin At Home said...

Both of the quilts are beautiful. It is neat that you and Dave are able to share your sewing area so easily.

Sue said...

Love your two quilts and what an interesting way of making four patch units! I love that you two guys share an interest!

Val's Quilting Studio said...

Thanks for a peek at your sewing space. :) :) Your quilts are cozy wonderful finishes!!

the zen quilter said...

With all the horrid ways people treat each other in the world, it's so lovely to hear a story like this. You are just being a kind, loving person - that's what makes the world a great place. Thanks Tish. And the baby blankets are so great - super job on the quilting!

Cheryl said...

I really like how the quilts are different and yet coordinate so well. I like how the quilt top designs compliment the charm pack prints!

Celtic Thistle said...

What a lovely gift for newborn twins!

helenjean@midgetgemquilts said...

I missed this post and as the mother of twins I shouldn't have . The quilts are lovely and will be slept on , rolled on , played with for a long time I'm sure

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