"You're gonna make something cool for my baby, right?" says my brother, a few months before his wife's due date. "Ummm, well, it doesn't seem like you're giving me an option!"
Of course you know I always want to make something cool for every special person in my life, it's a matter of time and energy. But since Laurence decided to pressure me, I should probably move quick.
This quilt started out as a personal one for myself, which means it got started and then got continually pushed out of the way for years. I began working on it when I was living in LA, longing for trees and nature, and, because it was initially going to be a full-sized quilt, I had enough pieces to fill up a kid-sized quilt top off the bat. So that helped me move faster. This also was a good gender-neutral option since my brother and sister-in-law were choosing not to know the sex of the baby.
I adapted the pattern from a tree quilt I saw in an old book, and then added in my own mountain and water landscape. It was trickier than I thought to piece because it was part geometric pattern, part free-form, but it was gratifying to be designing something strictly to my own liking. I haven't made a quilt without a client's taste to consider since 2009!
I fancied the idea of a "thumb hole" in the corner, stemming from a need to secure the layers of batting inside.
This shot gives you a good idea as to how I tied the quilt. There's a layer of bamboo/cotton batting, a layer of wool, and two layers of poly high-loft inside. When I finished, the whole thing felt more like a soft mattress than a blanket! It'll be perfect for something to roll around on on the floor.
I painted the label with silkscreen ink, more because that's what I had lying around than because it was the best option. I'm sure there's something better for this application! I'm so excited to be an aunt and have a new member to our little family.
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