Sungglies for the Babes

I love making snuggly little baby quilts for all the new babies. They are all just simple large blocks with sashing and cornerstones and backed with minky. No batting or binding and then quilted on the diaganol. Super easy but oh so soft and sweet. I started making this style of baby quilts in Hawaii because they are lighter weight than a traditional quilt and at one time 9 of us were having babies, so I could not afford the time or money to make everyone a traditional baby quilt.

This pink and zebra green was for my friend Tara's new baby, Coral. I love the sweet little polka dots.

This orange and blue one was for my friend Ashleigh's new little guy, Elijah.

This one is a bit larger and was for my sister Maggie's new baby boy, Colby. I really loved the striped fabric and the blocks look all together.

Bits of Blue and Green

"Leif’s Quilt"
Size: 42" x 50"
Pattern: Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt
Completed: Fall 2006
Made in: Hawaii
Given to: Leif Kalama

Machine pieced and quilted on a Pfaff Hobby 301

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The story: This is the quilt I made for Leif while I was pregnant. I saw a picture of a beautiful quilt by Denyse Schmidt in an ad in one of my quilting mags and knew that was what I wanted to make for the baby. Cory and I chose the fabrics together at Kaimuki Dry Goods in town. It was somewhat difficult because we had to pick a ton a fabric. But it was fun, too. We ended up with a bunch of mostly blues and greens and threw in a duckie and frog and cars with surfboards. There is definitely an island feel to some the fabrics which goes perfectly in his room. I modified the pattern slightly and cut all the pieces straight instead of not straight as indicated in the pattern. It definitely doesn't look as well organized or cohesive as the original in the picture, but we love it. And Leif knows I made it for him and that's the most important thing. I backed it with a light green on green polka dot flannel and bound it with the blue and green wavey fabric. The only problem? Leif hates blankets and has refused to sleep with it. Hence, why it is hanging on the wall. Oh well!

Butterfly Bliss

"Butterfly Bliss"
Size: 37" x 37"

Pattern: original design using 9" Snowball Blocks

Completed: April 2009

Made in: Hawaii
Machine pieced and quilted on a Janome 6600

Given to: Mary Hirose for baby Jacquelyn

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The story: I just finished this baby quilt for my friend Mary - well for her baby Jacquelyn, who will be arriving in a few short weeks. Mary's husband Keaka does not like pink, so I chose to use purple for the sashing and binding. The blocks are 9" Snowballs with triangles of bright flowers in the corners. I used a pink and purple tulip fabric for the backing. This was a fun quilt to make and I think she really liked it. The best part was the binding, which went on like a dream once I figured out I had to adjust my needle position when using my 1/4" Accufeed foot. Oh the joy of learning a new machine!

The butterfly block. The other blocks were just a mottled print of the same colors, but no butterflies.

A close-up of the quilting and the corner triangle.

A close-up of the butterfly cornerstone. I had to fussy-cut to get 4 good butterflies.

Something Girlie

"Flowers for Fiona"
Size: 41" x 50 1/2"

Pattern: Yellow Brick Road by Atkinson Designs

Completed: April 2009

Made in: Hawaii
Machine pieced and quilted on a Janome 6600

Given to: Erin Giaretto for baby Fiona
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The story: I just finished this one today. It is for my dear friend, Erin who is about a month away from welcoming baby Fiona to the world. Erin is Ronan's mum (Ro and Leif are best little buddies and have been since they were about 7 months old.) As soon as Erin announced her pregnancy I knew I would want to make her a sweet, girlie quilt. Erin picked the shabby chic look for Fiona's nursery and loaned me the crib bumper to take to the fabric store. I had a lot of fun selecting the fabric for this quilt - well as much fun as one can have fabric shopping with a two yeard old in tow - "No fabric store, Mama!" After one or two misses with the fabric selection I ended up with a pretty good balance of lights and darks and greens and pinks. I chose the pattern "Yellow Brick Road" by Atkinson Designs for this because I thought the it lent itself well to the shabby chic look. I had previously made this pattern two other times and it is quick and fun. I machine quilted it with a wave stitch every 2" all the way to the center and machine bound it with the green and pink stripe that I also used for the backing. I can't wait to see how it looks in the nursery!

Here are a few more pics:

Here you can see some of the three different blocks.

You can sort of see the quilting in the dark green.

Here you can see the backing and the binding.

Zoo Pals for Armando

"Zoo Pals"
Size: 28 1/2" x 32"
Pattern: original design
Completed: April 2009
Made in: Hawaii
Given to: Desiree Diaz for her soon to arrive little one, Armando
Machine pieced and quilted on a Janome 6600
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The Story: Finally a current project to post about! And the first quilt I've completed on my new machine. I just finished this one today and can take it off my list on the sidebar.
I made this for my friend Desiree who is about to have her second little boy. I wanted to do something fun and cuddly. I decided to make a cuddle quilt instead of a full-on quilt. I made a similar one for my friend Richelle's little boy, Casey, several years ago and she said he loved it! (BTW - I still need a pic of that one Richelle - if you're reading this.)
After piecing the top I just sewed the top and the backing right sides together and then turned it right-side out. This meant no batting and no binding. But I felt it needed something on the edge so I used a rainbow verigated thread and an "X" decorative stitch right along the edge. This also closed the opening I had left to turn it right-side out, which means I didn't have to hand sew it closed. Yay! For the quilting I used another decorative stitch just where I joined the strips. See below for close-ups of the edge, the quilting and all the fabrics. The green polka dot fabric is flannel and the rainbow fabric is an ultra-soft brushed cotton. Put it all together and I think it's super cuddly. And the perfect size for snugglng up with momma.

For Kennon

"Kennon's Quilt"
Size: 45" x 57" (I think)
Pattern: "Kid in a Candy Store" by Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle
Completed: August 2008
Made in: Hawaii
Given to: Kennon Liljenquist
Machine pieced and quilted on a Pfaff Hobby 301
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The story: This pattern was featured in American Patchwork and Quilting's April 2006 issue. It was shown with beautiful bright pinks, greens, oranges, yellows, blues and purples. I flagged the page and always planned to come back to it. I have made a quilt for each of my nieces and nephews and as soon as my sister Maggie found out she was having a boy I went fabric shopping. I had kept this pattern in the back of my head and when Maggie said she wanted just simple blues and greens I thought it would work. I was desperate to get it finished after working on it for over a year, so I did very simple rectangles for the quilting. I was pleased with the end result and Kennon got it before his 1st birthday! (Barely.)