Wednesday, May 9, 2012

CA Kids' Crib Quils



These are the crib quilts I made for Lia and Locke as newborns.  Lia's was always "used"; I had hoped it would become her "lovey" quilt, but instead, she bonded to a little pink blanket, her "Baa-Baa."  Her nursery was decorated with Paddington Bear motifs, and so I luckily found several different Paddington-themed fabrics.  This was only the 3rd or 4th quilt I ever made, and I came up with the design myself.  It was minimally and very simply straight-line machine quilted.  What I was most proud of was how Paddington in the lower left corner holds a kite string that I stitched in black to reach up to the kite in the middle row, which flies in the air above a Paddington who is taking his leisure! 


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I loved the border fabric with the stripes and little Paddingtons!

Locke's crib quilt is below.  Kathy chose to use it as a wall hanging in his nursery, which had a "Transportation" theme.  For it I used a favorite Marsha McCloskey design, "Sawtooth Stars and Double Four-Patch." 

Some of the navy fabrics faded badly in this wall-hanging.  The one of the ships in the lower right double four patch and the upper left, second row.  Oddly, other dark blues didn't fade at all, nor did any of the other colors.  The sun is so intense here in California that fading has been a problem in this quilt and in the wedding quilt I made for Kathy and her husband.

I chiefly straight line machine quilted this quilt, but I hand quilted cloud-shapes in the outer border, to echo the clouds I used for the backing; see below. 

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

IN TERRA PAX

I made all my children patriotic wall hangings after the tragic, life-changing events of September, 2001.  For daughter Kathy and her husband, since they had met and married in NYC, I made theirs from a fabric I just happened to have bought a few years before, of the New York skyline.  I reversed the fabric panel  on the bottom, so that it looks as if the skyline is a reflection.

Surrounding the panels, I inked the word PEACE in many different languages, altering the font as seemed appropriate.  The dove and the Latin inscriptions "In Terra Pax" seemed appropriate, too.

I worked these little quilts up so quickly that fall before Christmas that I failed to take photographs of the resulting quilts.  Recently I found this one in the guest room closet.  It formerly hung in the study, but after they had the study totally re-done with built-ins along 3 walls, wall space was at a  premium, and so this never got re-hung. 

Now, with beloved daughter Kathy gone from our lives, I am wondering if her husband would let me have this back?  If it's been relegated to a closet for a long time, why not?  I don't know if I have the courage to ask him, however.

Here are closer views. I quilted lightly, chiefly just around the major shapes in the panels and then did some "in the ditch" quilting.    I hand-blanket stitched around the dove.  Some close-ups: