City Baby

City Baby is finished and ready for her new owner. Who would have thought the quilt would be ready before the baby arrived?

Quilting Gail is hosting a Baby Quilt Marathon, so I thought I’d see how much progress I could make in 26 hours, and took note of time spent sewing. It turns out I am a slower quilter than I thought. Traditionally, particularly with slow surgeons, to determine the length of time of time of an operation, you take the surgeon’s estimate of time required, double it, add half an hour, and you’ll have the actual time required. I must be fair and add that there are many surgeons in whom this calculation is not required; those are the ones with insight. There are more who need a clock replaced with a calendar, but this is not the place for that discussion. I now realize that, had I done surgery instead of anesthesia, I would be completely deluded about how long it would take for me to do a case. Still, like them, I eventually finish the job, and City Baby is now complete.

Several years ago, my daughter’s good friend got married and I made a wedding quilt. It was modelled after Zen Chic’s  Shine Through  pattern, but I pieced multiples of Tula Pink’s City Sampler blocks in place of appliquéd fabric. Here it is. Do you recognize any Kaffe Fassett fabric? Do you recognize me?

When the quilt was finished, I took the leftover blocks and bits (there were more than a few since I was playing with layout as I went), and put them in a bag. This spring there was happy news that the young couple was expecting a daughter, and I pulled out those bits to make a baby quilt for them. I took them to a Guild retreat, and assembled the flimsy. I was trying for colour progression, like the parents’ quilt. Unlike that one, this has a straight setting with sashing and corner stones. But then, a child has recognizable bits from its parents, in a unique combination. I questioned the corner stones, but after consultation with fellow quilters and my daughter, they went in. With judicious cutting, the Tula Pink High Tide, in aquamarine, from the Zuma collection, worked well for them, and added to the colour/ value movement. The flimsy was finished and put aside.

Then came the baby quilt marathon, and I finished it. It took me 10 1/2 hours to choose backing, load the quilt, quilt it, trim it, choose and attach binding and sew it down by hand.

These were my binding options. The pink “boob” fabric, hey dot, by Brigitte Heitland for Zen Chic, was an obvious choice; it’s much closer to lavender in reality. I bought it on sale last month at Avonport Discount Centre, a worthwhile stop if you’re in Nova Scotia, Canada. My daughter pointed out that the motif was very much on trend, with it’s nod to female empowerment. Perfect for today’s baby girl. I must add that while I heartily embrace the movement away from colour stereotyping, the quilt felt very blue for a girl. I was thrilled to find a terrific pink binding. Showing my age, I am.

Summer is finally here, so I took the quilt pondside to sew down the binding. At my friend Gillian’s suggestion, I tried Sulky Blendable thread for the job, and loved it.

After more than three hours, the quilt was finished. It needed it’s photo shoot.

Here it is in the morning light. The sun washed out the colours a bit, but side light in the early morning certainly showed the texture of the quilting.

 

On its way back to the house, I passed some ajuga that I’m leaving unmowed until the flowers are gone. The bees love it.Kitty Wilkin, the Night Quilter, told us that evening light was lovely and warm for quilt photos, so I took it to the nearby beach at sunset. I’m trying really hard to apply some of the tips she shared in her photography workshop at Quiltcon.

So, I missed the rule of thirds and the quilt was shaded, even if the sky was lovely. I moved the quilt.

Better, but I really needed more light, so I looked around and saw a fence that was brighter. And that’s a wrap.

Linking up with Quilting Gail. This is my half way report on the Baby Quilt Marathon. With 10 1/2 hours on this quilt, and another 6 to date on another, I’m well past the half way point.