Sweet Violet Baby Quilt



Overlooking a very frozen Lake Erie

 

In the March snow!

     This has been a weekend of finishes.  A big quilt (for a friend's birthday), a baby quilt, a new fabric basket project, and two table runners.  Whew!   Today's post features the baby quilt, made of sweet little violet and lavender fabrics.

    A friend is expecting a baby girl - a perfect opportunity for a little disappearing nine-patch block, using some 2002 fabrics from a line called Home Sweet Home by Sharon Yenter for In the Beginning Fabrics and adding in some other fabrics from my stash which seemed to complement those fabrics.  The little folk dancing girls on white and periwinkle were the inspiration for this quilt.  


 

     The middle 4 fabrics are all from the Home Sweet Home line. Like many of my older fabrics, I purchased yards of each, in many different colorways! The top floral and bottom dot were added, along with some of the fabrics below. I ended up using a different version of the white dancing girls that had more pink and purple in it.  I am slowly but surely working my way through my fabrics!

 

    I first tried the disappearing nine-patch block with my Kitty Cat Love Quilt.   I used a different arrangement of the same block with  the Confetti Quilt.  My third, and final for now, arrangement is with this quilt, which I have called Sweet Violet.   I find it interesting to see how the identical blocks look so different depending on fabric choices and block placement!

     These fabrics did not have much contrast, which I think makes a calm quilt, but I decided to use the violet dots in the middle to give the design some structure.  After checking out many variations on the design wall, I decided to put the small violet square in the same corner for each block.

       I started with 12 nine patch blocks, with 5" blocks, intending for 8 rows with 6 small blocks each, which was the size of the "confetti quilt".  Somehow, that seemed too large on the wall, and so I made the quilt a bit smaller, using only 7 rows.   The final quilt measures 38 by 45 inches, which seems to be a nice size for a little baby.

      I used some more of my IKEA numbers fabric for the back, and did my curvy lines quilting (alternating straight and curvy lines at 1/2 inch intervals) with my walking foot, using a light pink cotton thread.   

     I used the violet dot for the binding, and the little quilt turned out to be very cute.

My trusty quilt holder!

 

     I am hopeful that the baby will like this - I know I do!   I used Warm and Natural batting, and it turned out soft and crinkly after washing and drying.

 

     I will share my other finishes soon.  It is hard for me to believe that I started this blog almost a year ago.  What a fun experience this has been!  

 

Take care, and let's hope for Spring to arrive soon -

Gretchen