Bearss: A Finished Quilt (and not a typo!)

Some lovely friends of my husband's, whom I've met on a couple of occasions, recently had a baby. They chose not to find out the baby's sex which drives me crazy as a quilter, but I figured something out!

I used some fabric from Birch Organics (the bears) to dictate the colour scheme of the whole quilt.

Here is Bearss (named for a lime tree!):

Bearss is gender neutral and sunny!

I made this very simply with 5x5" blocks and 5x10" blocks, alternating. I love how bright this quilt is!

I just went with straight-line echoing of each seam, which was simple and effective on this sort of quilt.

I piecing a back with this big swatch of grey I had as well as leftover bits from the front. For the binding I used a grey and snow white fabric I've had sitting around for ages that worked with the softness of this quilt's colour scheme (no stark whites).

Mom and Dad were super touched and recognized the special nature of a handmade item. Their baby girl (!) will be sure to get lots of use out of it! (At least I hope!)

Diamond in the Sky: A Finished Quilt

I have made quilts for every child in a particular group of friends. As I was finishing the last quilt for the group, I realized that there was one child I was forgetting. The thing is, this little boy didn't get to be born. Tragically he would not have made it to full term, and even if he did he would never survive birth. When our friends decided to end the suffering early, it was hard. But I didn't want him to be forgotten or not spoken of. I asked the mom if I could make something for him or, if she would prefer, make a quilt and donate it to another child. She asked me to make a small quilt and to somehow incorporate stars, with the quilt being added to a memory box

 

Here is Diamond in the Sky, a small little quilt in memory of a tiny baby.

I opted for wonky stars and a collection of mostly Lizzy House fabric. I even backed it in a Constellation fabric. I also used a subtle Cotton+Steel plus fabric in a very light grey instead of my go-to Kona White.

Backing in blues and greys

Constellations within a star!

The stars are wonky but sweet, and both parents really loved it. They also asked me to add a star to their older child's quilt from me, so I did my first ever applique (and forgot to take a picture) of a wonky star using more Lizzy House Constellations.

Children who are lost are not ever forgotten, and I was glad that the parents trusted me to do this small task for them.