Addition: A Finished Quilt

A friend whom I love dearly commissioned me to make two double quilts for her boys' "big boy" beds and though I don't normally make quilts on commission, I had to do it this time!

Check out my post on the eldest boy's quilt, Stone Arrow.

And here is the little brother's quilt, Addition.

The front of Addition. My husband had lots of complaints about this one because it is so big and it was hurting his arms to hold it up. As you can see, it never got perfectly flat being held up. And that is with my 6'1" hubby standing on a chair!

A certain someone wanted in on the photo shoot.

Don't they look dreamy?

I did straight line quilting diagonally through the pluses and then echo quilted all the seams. I used a clear thread on the top and Sulky in Smoke on the bottom because the quilt had a very light front and very dark back.

This shot gives you an outline of my hubby but not a great idea of the true colour of the backing! It is a dark tone-on-tone Pearl Bracelet (in Shadow I think?) which reads as almost black in real life.

I added these details to both quilts- their first initials on the back in such a way that it can be tucked on the bottom left (if you were lying under the quilt) or folded over on the top so you can see the initial. I surprised the mom with this detail and I think she loved the extra thought.

 Addition was made up of many nine-patch blocks and it gave me endless headaches. Like the quilting. Or the sashing. I often was cursing this quilt (especially since most of the mistakes were a result of my carelessness) but I didn't give up. It helps that the recipient is a super adorable almost two-year-old.

I love how they look together. I wanted them to be cohesive (the same fabrics are in both quilts, with a few extra in Stone Arrow) but not be exact matches. 

Brothers!

Maybe I overdid it with the pictures...

They both have the same AGF Squared Elements binding.

And they look so good tossed together in a bundle!

It was such a delight to take an idea from a friend whom I adore, turn that idea into a concept in my head, select the fabric over several months, work for many months on making that vision a reality and then sharing the results with that friend. She totally loved them and was glad she had just trusted me to make the decisions myself. And she cried (though, she is pregnant so maybe the hormones? I told her this next baby needs to be a girl because I am done making giant grey quilts) which I love because I wanted her to not just like them but LOVE them. 

I think J and E, both too young to appreciate quilts now, will have many years to enjoy snuggling under these dark grey and crisp white modern quilts, commissioned by their awesome mom and made, with love, by me!

Lynn