A new baby (quilt)

8 Jan

Last summer I made a gorgeous (in my opinion) baby quilt as part of the Zakka sew along using the pattern from Patchwork Please. It had quite a boyish theme to it, I struggled writing that because I don’t think we should stereotype babies or children but I’m sure you get what I mean:

Books for baby finished quilt

Actually in my head it was really blue but obviously it’s not!

Anyway back in the summer some lovely friends of ours who were expecting a baby told us that they were expecting a girl, the mum is an English teacher and dad is a lover of books too so I decided I’d like to make the baby a Books for Baby quilt but of a more feminine version.

So on December 16; once some but not all the Christmas gifts had been made I did a fabric pull:

fabric pull

And quite quickly stitched up 12 book blocks.  Again I drew on my text charm swap pile and found a few gems in there to use:

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I love this one:

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I then picked out Alphabetti in coal by Lu Summers for the border around each block, I like how the letters fit in with the theme of the quilt and it worked much better than any of the other prints I had!

Deciding on sashing was much harder, I auditioned a few but as I’d already used quite a few solids in the blocks it was tricky finding a balance.  In the end I went for Aqua (Moda Bella solid) and I still like how it looks which is a good sign!  At the same time as choosing the sashing I chose the border (Round in Purple, Chelsea Collection – Windham Fabrics) and then my eldest daughter (9yrs) and Tobit independently both said I should use the Alphabetti again for the binding.

It was my last finish of 2014, hand stitching the binding on the sofa on New Years Eve it was finished an hour or so before midnight just a few hours after the baby arrived on her due date!

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The label was stitched on a few days later when I knew the name and the quilt had been washed.

It’s backed with some Amy Butler prints from the Daisy Chain line:

Books for Baby Quilt - back

I like the bright and boldness of them not a hint of nursery prints.

Books for Baby Quilt

We invited the family over for Sunday lunch to meet the new arrival and gifted the quilt to them, I think it’s safe to say they like it!

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I’m hoping that the big sister might be inspired to make up stories to go with each book to tell to her little sister as she grows.

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So my final quilt finish of 2013 but there is still another one I need to blog about!

Quilt stats:
Pattern – Books for Baby quilt from Patchwork Please!
Fabrics – all from stash and scrap boxes (if you have a specific query on one please leave a comment below)
Binding – Alphabetti in Coal – Summersville by Lu Summers
Backing – a selection from Daisy Chain by Amy Butler
Wadding – Super-Soft 70/30 Eco-Blend by Sew Simple
Quilting – Outline around each book, around each block and in the ditch around the border
Size – Approx 38″ x 47″

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12 Replies to “A new baby (quilt)

  1. It’s fabulous Mary – I’m sure they were over the moon. I am still in the planning stages of my gift, so well done for being ahead of the baby even!

  2. Beautiful Mary. I’m sure I’ve seen one or two of those prints before ;0)

    She’s a really lucky baby x

  3. Lovely!
    My girls’ teacher announced she is pregnant yesterday, she’s not going off until Easter, but my head is already pondering ‘neutrals’!

  4. Gorgeous! I’m also smitten with the backing. Since I have that book, I really must look it up and add another idea to my list…

  5. such a beautiful quilt. I love the Lu Summers fabric around the books, and the backing is brilliant 🙂

  6. These are both gorgeous! I always want to make a Books for Baby quilt for each of my children but I think I’ll have to settle for my someday grandchildren instead. It’s so hard to find enough time as it is and I’m always getting excited about clothes and dolls and things too!

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