This summer I made a couple of colorful quilts for my niece. It was a treat for both of us.
To start, I picked up a couple of adorable mini charm packs from Bunny’s at QuiltCon back in February. (That feels like a million years ago!) Together the packs make up a full rainbow of color, and I knew at the time they’d be perfect for her–and me. I love all of the cute Japanese prints and the range of color feels so happy too.
Quilt Tops
To me, one mini quilt wasn’t enough, and so I made matching quilts–a big one for her and the mini for her dolls. I made the mini first from the 2 mini charm packs from Bunny’s with 2 1/2″ squares added in from my stash (my 2 1/2″ square stash!). It’s a simple, checkerboard layout with the stash pieces going between the Japanese prints. The lighter colors set them off nicely.
For the big quilt, I wanted a similar-but-larger match, and so I sized up by using 5″ squares. Unfortunately I didn’t have a perfect rainbow pre-cut pack to work with, but I created my own by diving into my stash. I sought out colorful prints with clever motifs that I hoped she’d enjoy discovering and perusing over time. There’s nothing better than an i-spy quilt, and I definitely had a great time revisiting all of these lovely fabrics.
Like in the mini version, I alternated in with some of my own lighter prints–mostly repurposed from my scrap piles.
Sewing
There’s nothing better than sewing through a stack of color, plus it was fun seeing all of the great prints as I sewed. I pressed all of the seams open, with a seam wheel first, and then with the iron. I think this makes things much easier.
Quilting!
Hand quilting has been my personal vacation/spa treatment/zen in recent months. I’ve really been loving it. For these quilts I wanted to hand quilt them to make them super soft, but also to use a colorful array of thick threads to stand out.
I changed my thread colors often to mimic the color changes across the quilt. The effect is really nice.
I didn’t mark these quilts, and so the lines are more freeform. I stitched from corner to corner, with some definite wobble here and there, but I like the personal touch.
Label
As I mentioned recently, I’ve been trying to be better with adding labels to my quilts. It was pretty easy to do here, because I had an extra square from the big quilt. I re-purposed it for the label, and then made a matching mini for the other quilt.
My niece loves her quilts, which of course makes me very happy.
Pattern: None–just 5″ squares for the big quilt, 2 1/2″ squares for the little quilt.
Fabrics: Mini quilt is made from 2 mini charm packs from Bunnys (I don’t see a listing, but you can probably ask via email) plus my own fabric. Larger quilt is made from my stash with fabrics by Melody Miller, Alexia Abegg, Rifle, Aneela Hoey, UPPERCASE, Denyse Schmidt, Jeni Baker, Charley Harper, Rashida Coleman-Hale, Lizzy House, Ed Emberley, Leah Duncan, Robert Kaufman, and several others.
Hand Quilting: Here’s a link to my favorite tools.
How absolutely wonderful! Love that you made a mini quilt for her doll. What a treasure of a gift. So glad you are finding joy and peace in your hand stitching. Be well and stay safe. ox
Thanks, Melanie! I hope you are finding peace in your sewing too. Take care!
I love both of them! Your niece is lucky to have such a loving aunt!
Thanks! It was fun for both of us, not gonna lie. 🙂
❤️.
-rebeca
I adore them, and how wonderful to know your niece loved both!! It’s good to hear you are doing well. Stay safe.
-Jean
❤
Thanks, Jean! You too!
Lovely work as always! I had a similar idea and for X’mas am making a flower-blossom-type quilt for my mom and a mini butterfly FPP’d quilt for her little 3 pound multipoo (Maltese/Poodle mix). GMTA! ;). PS – enjoyed your subscriber email today; you always do a nice job on it.
That sounds really fun, Suzanne! And I love the idea for the quilt for the little pup 🙂 I’m glad to hear that you enjoy the newsletter–thank you for reading!
What do you use for batting?
Super cute BTW : )
Thanks! I used Quilters Dream Cotton Request batting on both.
Wonderful quilts!
Your niece is a lucky lady to have such a talented aunt!
I love searching through the blocks.
The quilting is beautiful. What kind of thread did you use for these two quilts?
I read you have several favorites.
Thanks, Linda! Yes, I definitely had fun with the threads on these quilts. I mainly used Sashiko threads (some like in this post here) but also some Aurifil 12 wt cotton.
These are so sweet and cheerful! What a lovely gift 🙂
Thanks, Jeni!
Both quilts are very adorable and darling! I love the hand quilting, especially the way you took time to change the threads to go along with the color changes in the quilts. You are one terrific aunt! Beautiful work as usual!!
Thanks, Cyndi!
I love these quilts, they are so happy. :). Changing the color of the thread for the quilting is a great idea. Thanks very much for sharing 💗
Thanks, Elena! Using lots of thread colors is fun and never boring!