baby quilts

Simple Patchwork

2 Feb 2015

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Most of you already know how much I loved my obstetrician. My pregnancies were not entirely smooth sailing and having an ob that was calm and confident was vital for me. I’m not sure that being a doctor is an advantage when you are a patient- in fact, I think it’s detrimental. About halfway through my pregnancy with Teegan, I found out she was expecting a little girl. This provided me the perfect opportunity to make a thank-you gift!

My first instinct is always to use pink for girls (um, Mila has a LOT of pink in her room and her wardrobe), but it just didn’t feel right. I found an adorable owl print made exclusively for JoAnn Fabrics which I used on the back (unfortunately I don’t see it available online right now).  I used a few key colors- gold, burnt red, grey and yellow and then several low volume prints. Most of these are out of print now.

Patchwork (1)I have been in love with simple patchwork quilts these days. I used to cut 5 inch squares, but this time I cut 4 inch squares, which I like better. I did simple quilting on each side of the seams. I definitely love how it turned out.

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Excuse the pictures…. It was a dreary day when I took them (and I’m also learning how to use my new camera).

– Erica

The last of my robots

24 Oct 2014

3 Comments

This will be the third quilt I have made with Robot Factory (which is now out of print and practically impossible to find). The first quilt I made was for my nephew from the pattern Pow Wow by Cluck Cluck Sew and then I made a simple square patchwork quilt for the son of one of my girlfriends.

I had several half square triangles left over from piecing the Pow Wow quilt and I saved these pieces knowing that someday I would put them to good use.

I sewed these half square triangles together to make “flying geese” and then randomly pieced the squares together. I’m very happy with how it turned out. In retrospect, I am a little nervous about the quantity of white in this quilt since it is going to a little boy (and I am now realizing how messy toddlers can be!).

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I decided to quilt parallel lines between the pieced blocks. I’m really happy with how it turned out.

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The back is pieced with every last bit of robot fabric I had left. I guess I’m going to have to find a new fabric for boy quilts!

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Now I just need to package it up and mail it off to this sweet little boy…

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– Erica

Onesie Quilt

2 Aug 2014

5 Comments

I think this is one of my favorite finishes of all time. It is definitely not the most complicated quilt I have ever sewn. In fact, it’s probably the easiest.

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When Mila outgrew her newborn and 0-3 month onesies, I set them aside to make her a baby quilt. I cut out 5 inch squares, and for the most part, was able to get two squares per onesie (one from the front and one from the back). She was a small baby!

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Because her onesies were a knit material, they had a tendency to stretch, so I ironed a thin interfacing to the back of each piece for stabilization.

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I used a nice, soft flannel backing that I bought at JoAnn Fabrics.  I wanted this quilt to be really lovable so I decided to quilt it with yarn ties rather than machine quilting. For the binding I used a hot pink jersey material. Quilting cotton just didn’t feel right (as there isn’t any in the quilt itself) and I was afraid that flannel wouldn’t be sturdy enough.

It’s so fun because every single square reminds me of Mila as a newborn.  Mila sleeps with this quilt in her crib and I can already tell it’s her favorite too *wink wink*.

OnesieQuilt (4)– Erica

 

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.

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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.

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– 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

5 Comments

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

3 Comments

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

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