Quilt made from baby clothes from the 1980s

Just finished a quilt made from my friend's baby clothes.  

These baby clothes were given to a quilter who was going to make a quilt out of them, but she got sick or got busy or something, and never was able to finish it.   This previous quilter had cut up all the clothing into (rough) rectangles that measured 2.25" x 2.5"  Some of these rectangles had been sewn into 9-patches.  Everything was cut with a template and regular hand scissors (=c0

 I thought it was odd that they were cut this size.   Typically 9-patches are cut into squares, not rectangles.   Also, if the squares were 2.5", as you probably can imagine, the possibilities for the blocks would have been MUCH greater.   The blocks and therefore the QUILT could have been much bigger and there would have been many more block options, etc., 

BUT, I love a challenge, and so what I did was cut most of them down to 2" and treated them as strips to use with the EZ angle ruler.  This way I could do flying geese and HSTs for blocks.   I also cut a few of them into 2" squares and made NEW (even) 9-patches:c)   

 Here you can see the previous quilter's 9 patch block on the left, ,and my flying geese block on the right.

And here are an assortment of the 9-patch blocks on the top, and an assortment of my NEW blocks on the bottom.  All of my new blocks measured 4.5" UNfinished.   The HSTs of those sawtooth stars measured 1" FINISHED ! LOL ;c)   Yes, very teeny tiny!

The finished quilt top:   All of the fabric for the blocks (including the white) was made out of baby clothing.  The striped rose print for the sashing and binding was picked out by the quilt's recipient.  My friend, Beth, was nicknamed "Rose" when she was a little girl, so the rose has special significant to Jackie, her mom (for whom I made this quilt)

I found the inner border floral fabric and outer border pink fabric at Phylis's Quilt shop in Hurricane  (Thank you for your help picking out fabrics Phyllis!!).   The floral-y fabric had such a beautiful, vintage 80s-feel to it I think.   AND, it included all the colors from Beth's baby clothes.  It also helped make that transition from the stark white of the baby clothes used in the blocks. . to the creamy beige used in the striped rose print.   I never thought I could make white and beige work together, but I really think it works in this quilt!

After all the piecing was complete - it was time for Katies' fun playtime. LOL

For each of the blocks, I quilted a circle/feather type of deal.  I made a circle template with cardstock and marked just the outer circle, and did the feathers and inner circle by hand.  (which is why they're not perfect and I WILL mark them NEXT time!)

 For the inner borders, I quilted a feather with an echo, but as you can see in the next photo, I was not satisfied with just a normal feather.

 I thought the feathers were too fat, so I added a vein in each one to fill it out a bit.  This was the first time trying this technique and I really like the way it looks!

 For the sashing and outer borders I tried another new quilting motif. . a free-hand leaf pattern.   It definitely would have looked better if I would have marked it first.. . I started to mark it, and then got really confused on the math, and gave up ;c)

 For the pink and rose striped areas, I used Mettler cotton pink thread.  For the white/block areas and the feathers, I used #Aurifil poly variegated quilting thread.   When Jackie saw the quilt in person, she said she really liked the variegated colors.   Since they are a fine pastel, with a bit of shimmer, I thought it was perfect for this quilt too!

 And right now I'm working on a photo memory quilt - with the colors sage, brown and white.  I picked out these fabrics for the quilt and will have a blog post on it soon! ;c)

New Crown Royal Quilt

  Sorry I haven't been updating my blog very much, but if you want to get the latest photos, and updates on my current projects - be sure to "LIKE" my facebook page!!

So here they are:  My latest Crown Royal Quilts are complete! 

This is the "block" - and because these blocks are so BIG, these quilts are not as versatile as the old crown royal quilt pattern.  https://www.craftsy.com/quilting/patterns/royal-star-/194359 These are only available in Twin-size or bigger.  

Here are the "special" crown royal quilt bags /logos that were used in this quilt.  I used these special colors and textures for the cornerstones, so that the main blocks would stay consistent. 

 Here is the center quilt pre-borders

 For the border star blocks, the lights and darks were reversed.   I've made SOOO many of them the opposite way, I screwed up a gazillion times and had to do ALOT of seam-ripping/unpicking ;c)
For the borders stars I used the gold/leather crown royal quilt.  and purple background.

 Here are the two finished tops!

 I used the leftover bag material from the BACK and SIDES of the crown royal bags for the sashing.   For all the other purple areas I used a mottled purple quilting fabric.

 Here are the two quilt tops on the wall, without flash ;c)  My camera seems to have trouble capturing the color purple.

 Here is me quilting the quilt with my big-guy machine ;c)  Yes, I think the name of my sewing machine is "big guy" . .  I never claimed to be creative.  LOL

 For the backing I used a purple minky fleece.    When I ordered it from fabric.com, I thought it was just as dark as the purple quilting fabric and the crown royal bags.   But when it showed up in the mail it was a bit lighter.   Like a lavender or something.

 Here are the 3 quilts finished!   I used gold binding on one, and purple binding on the other.

 Here's a shot of the backing. . it's the same on both quilts.