Ooops! One more thing I learned from Kenzie’s First Baby Quilt…that was a pretty big quilt! According to the design, about 92”x92”. I cut it down some, which was a bit of a challenge, pattern wise, but it still didn’t fit well into strollers or car seats. It didn’t go along well to visit. So, this Grammy needed to make another quilt. Sad. Not!
As it happened, a quilt guild up in Cobb County, GA was holding a special class and the teacher was none other than Gwen Marston, whose first book had convinced me I could be a quilter, too. I was several miles past excited. The class materials list called for bits and pieces of fabric you love. Apparently any color and any print would do, as long as we each really loved what we brought. No problem!
The class was great! Gwen was just as liberated and fun in person as she seemed in her book. We sliced and diced and pieced and swapped fabrics with new friends and by the end of the class most of us had finished quilt tops. I decided mine needed a border and I had a perfect fabric at home. A 2-toned monochrome floral in a bright red orange. Now, I like orange a lot. I use a lot of it, though not always in such big pieces. In this case, I chose it because there are lots of blue prints and blue and white dots in the quilt and Kenzie’s Daddy and Mama are both University of Virginia graduates. (Never mind that Dave’s colorblind in some tones and I’m never sure what he can see. He appreciates the thought!)
A lighter orange and yellow mini print volunteered for the binding. And there’s enough lime green in there to make a very happy quilter. I machine quilted it, following the stripes, with a thin cotton batting and washed in my usual fashion to ensure wrinkles.
This was the one that could be depended on for naps or cool, often rainy days in Scotland. It’s a kid-sized baby quilt. And I just love all the wonky stripes. If the piece is too narrow, sew something else to it. Too big? Slice some off. Make it all a little bigger than you need it and trim the perimeter to a relatively precise rectangle if that works for you. Or, let the border make it all work out. I love Gwen Marston!
I save scraps of everything and I think this would be a perfect design for the girls’ first quilts. It’s quite probable that they will have other ideas! They’re almost there. I’ll keep you posted!