baby quilts

Finally, a finish!

26 Apr 2014

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It’s been a really long time since I blogged. I’m definitely busy working full time and being a mama. My little girl is already 9 months old. She’s on the move, so there aren’t any slow moments around here. After a full week of work, I find myself wanting to nap when she naps on the weekends- which is cutting into my sewing time. My other problem is that my sewing table is still in her bedroom. My mind is definitely full of ideas and quilts I want to make, but for now they are living only as ideas in my head.

Chevron (3)We’ve been lucky to have a really gorgeous, warm winter here in Los Angeles.

Chevron (2)About a month ago, I finished Mila’s first quilt (I think I started this quilt before she was born).  I wanted something to match her pink chevron rug and crib skirt.

Chevron (1)I cut half square triangles out of various gray prints and then randomly sewed them together in a chevron. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

Chevron (4)I also love that I decided to piece the back.

-Erica

Glam Garlands

18 Sep 2013

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I think this is my favorite baby quilt so far. As soon as I saw the Glam Garlands quilt in Elizabeth Hartman’s book Modern Patchwork: 12 Quilts to Take you Beyond the Basics, I knew it was destined to be a baby quilt. The pattern is written as a throw size which was way too big for a crib/toddler bed, so I downsized the pattern. Adjusting the size was way more difficult to do that than I anticipated– major math! In the end I’m not even sure it ended up the size I anticipated, but it looked perfect.

SMTD| Glam Garlands (1)

SMTD| Glam Garlands (4)

This baby quilt is for Mila’s BFF, Ellie. When we moved to California I was so lucky to meet my girlfriend Amanda. She started about one month after me at work and works in the module next to mine (our clinic is really large so we are broken up into smaller modules which function kind of like individual, smaller clinics). Amanda and I became fast friends and she honestly makes me want to go to work in the morning! We collaborate frequently on patients we see- we are constantly calling each other.

Amanda had her daughter, Ellie, right around the time we found out we were pregnant with Mila. We were both happy that our girls will be so close in age and we already have many plans for them. The main one is that they will be BFF’s (well, at least for as long as we are in charge of who they play with).

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It’s so great to have a friend that just passed through parenting one step ahead of me. It’s so great to have someone to ask for support and wisdom! She is back at work now and I’m taking pointers on how to survive being a working mom for when I go back.

SMTD| Glam Garlands (3)

- Erica

 

Pow Wow

17 Sep 2013

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I realized that I never put up a post about the baby quilt I finished for my nephew Elliot! There were a few posts along the way, but I forgot to post the finished quilt! I actually finished sewing the binding on this quilt when I was hospitalized with pre-term labor, so I had other things on my mind at the time.

I think this quilt took me almost a year to finish (I’m cutting myself some slack because there were a few big life events that got in the way). My nephew turned 2 this weekend so I’m very glad I decided to make this toddler bed size!

This quilt is made from the pattern Pow Wow by Cluck Cluck Sew. Sometimes it’s so nice and calming to follow a pattern and not really think too much…

SMTD| Pow Wow (1)

I pieced the back because this quilt was too wide for the “width of fabric” and I really like how it turned out.

SMTD| Pow Wow (2)

- Erica

Baby’s First Quilts

27 Jun 2013

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When I first moved out to Los Angeles, I posted an inquiry on the Los Angeles Modern Quilt Guild (LAMQG) website looking for some girls who were interested in getting together on a weekly basis to sew. Liberty and Jenny responded quickly and it turns out they both live within a couple of miles of my house (how rare in Los Angeles)!

Very quickly these girls became close girlfriends, especially as they helped me grieve through my second miscarriage and then my diagnosis of lupus. I cannot tell you how therapeutic good friendship and sewing is for the soul!

Over this past year our lives have all gotten a bit busier (and during my periods of intense morning/evening sickness I wasn’t able to sew much), so our get togethers have been more sporadic. But our lives have been connected and hopefully we will get together a little more frequently in the future. :)

My friend Liberty made our baby girl this beautiful quilt.

SMTD- LAMQGI would point you to her blog, but she just decided that her blogging phase is over for now, so, you’ll just have to believe me that she is an incredibly talented, wonderful woman. She tends towards improvisation which is inspiring to me since I tend to follow patterns and specifics.

SMTD- LAMQGThe star is made from large half square triangles. There is a tutorial for a similar quilt top by In Color Order: Giant Vintage Start Quilt Tutorial. Liberty used only 2 fabrics/colors in this quilt rather than 8 different colors.

DSC02573Jenny made me this fantastic quilt. I am in love with the fabric. Especially the print peeking out from the back. She machine quilted it and also added yarn ties for texture, which I love. Jenny has an amazing eye for anything vintage. She recently renovated her sewing space which makes me incredibly jealous– you can check out her before and after pictures on instagram.

Our girl is already so blessed!

- erica

 

My First Baby Quilt

28 May 2013

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As I was cleaning out our soon-to-be baby’s room, I came across this old photo of the very first baby quilt I made.

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I made this during medical school in 2002 for a classmate of mine who was having a baby. I bought the fabric at JoAnn Fabrics and made the pattern up myself. I don’t remember the colors being so pale (maybe it’s a faded photo?) I didn’t know how to quilt at that time so I just sewed “in the ditch” between the squares. I think it was a polyester batting so it’s a bit poofy.

- erica

Robot Patch

27 Mar 2013

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I’ve definitely been a little slow in blogging lately. I’m actually getting a little slower at everything as I get bigger (walking, rolling over in bed, getting off the couch…..).

One of my girlfriends at work is having a baby boy at the end of April. Her sister threw a beautiful baby shower for her a few weekends ago. I decided to make a simple 5 inch square patchwork quilt and I have to say I love it. There’s something spectacular about the simplicity, and the bright colors.

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Almost all the prints are from Robert Kaufman’s Organic Robot Factory.  The binding is a red print I got a few years ago from Connecting Threads and the orange and yellow are Timeless Treasures “crosshatch”.

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I love the red binding against the light blue.

- erica

 

More robots!

26 Feb 2013

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I had some leftover “robots” after finishing the top of my latest quilt when I got invited to a baby shower of a colleague. How perfect that she’s having a boy— scrappy robot quilt! I cut 5 inch squares and pieced them together. I’m probably going to quilt it diagonally through the squares. IMG_1963

I was able to finish piecing the top in a morning, and I have to say it was very satisfying to sew a quick, scrappy quilt. I think I need to do this more often (not everything has to be a new challenge…).

I also pulled some fabrics and cut the pieces to make the Glam Garlands quilt by Elizabeth Hartman. I bought her book modern PATCHwork just for this pattern. This quilt is going to be for a very dear friend of mine here in LA who recently had a baby.

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-erica

Pieced Backing

23 Feb 2013

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Apparently I am making my largest quilt so far since I was unable to use one piece of fabric for the backing! My latest quilt is wider than the width of fabric so I had to do my first pieced backing (I know I’m a little late to the pieced backing world…). I have to say, I think it looks really cute.

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(fabric is Robert Kaufman: Organic Robot Factory)

Now I’m ready to quilt this, but I’m still pondering how I am going to do it. I might just keep it simple and do vertical straight lines on the sides of the seams.

Yesterday I spent a long time cutting pieces for two more baby quilts and had two furry companions helping me out.

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-erica

Rest

20 Feb 2013

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I’ve been home from the hospital for one week now. Last week I was hospitalized for two days with placental bleeding and a lupus flare. It was extremely scary. The good- most important- news is that baby is OK! I’ll have to admit that I have had more “excitement” during my pregnancy than I was ever hoping for.

So, this week I’ve been home resting. I’m on a few more medications that will hopefully calm the lupus down. I’m not sure if it’s the medicine, the scare from the bleed, growing my little girl, or the lupus itself but I’ve been pretty tired. I’m sleeping a full night and then taking 1-2 naps a day. Crazy!

Yesterday I finally felt like I had enough energy to start sewing again. Just finished the top of a quilt I started AGES ago. This afternoon I may cut out pieces for another quilt. Feels nice to sew.

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(fabric is Robert Kaufman: Organic Robot Factory)

- erica

Sebastian

26 Oct 2012

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I love my latest quilt. Which makes me happy that it’s going to another one of my favorite girlfriends, Clara (and her beautiful baby boy, Sebastian).  Clara and I met at Hennepin County Medical Center– HCMC– where we did our Internal Medicine residency. I became really close with Clara when she was chief resident and I was a senior resident.

For two years, Clara and I were also the “detox docs”. One of us went to “detox” every single day of the entire year.  Minneapolis detox was a unique experience, maybe only to be rivaled by my time in “jail”.  We would have to get buzzed in by one of the staff and pass through the entryway and elevator that frequently smelled like urine and vomit. Once inside, we would sign standing orders for each person that had arrived in the previous 24 hours, and then see people with medical issues that needed to be dealt with during their brief (but usually recurring) stay.

After being chief resident, Clara went on to do a Critical Care fellowship. She is one of the most dedicated, thoughtful girls I know. She is an amazing doctor, and I would totally trust her to take care of one of my family members- although hopefully none of my family members will be in the ICU anytime soon.

 

Clara and Sebastian.

 

Jake and I were unfortunately not able to make it to Clara’s wedding in Mexico City, but we were able to make it to her Minneapolis wedding. She was stunning!

 

Clara was one of my bridesmaids.  I’m so lucky to have such wonderful friends!

 

Once and awhile we got out of the hospital….

 

And sometimes we even got dressed up!

 

And, here it is…. my equilateral triangle quilt! I made this quilt without a pattern. Normally I like to follow patterns because having to think TOO much after a full day of work is extremely painful. However, I got the vision for this quilt in my head and couldn’t get it out. I really wanted to make it asymmetrical with a large amount of white space on two sides. I also left some of the triangle spaces blank.

I used an equilateral triangle template to cut out the triangles. It was a little tedious, but sometimes I actually love tedious, repetitive stuff I can do while watching TV.

I like this quilt so much, I might even try to write up a pattern- so I can make another one! I’m thinking of pinks, yellows and oranges next time.

And this time I actually remembered to sew my label into the binding. Awesome, huh?

-erica

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