A Couple of Comissioned Quilts

A very dear friend of mine approached me many months ago and asked me to create a quilt for each of her kid's beds. She has a teenage daughter and a young adult son. As I had never made a quilt larger than lap sized (50" x 54") I thought a double bed size was as large as I was willing to go. A quilt measuring approx. 54" x 75" would cover the top of a double mattress and be large enough to wrap up in. Perfect! These were to be Christmas gifts so I had several months to work with. We discussed colors, fabrics and quilt styles. These quilts had to be awesome and not too "quilty", especially the "boy" quilt! The final results were pretty impressive, I was quite proud of myself. It was a wonderful learning experience and I discovered plenty of "do's and don'ts" along the way. As much as I love to create quilts I still have an extreme dislike to the basting process (squatting, grunting, sweating...ugh!). After the first quilt was basted I just could not bring myself to baste another using the above method so I used my ironing board as a work-horse, draping all the quilt layers over and began the process of smoothing, pinning and adjusting until it was just right. Yippee, it worked! And here are the finished results:

Catherine's Quilt

Catherine's quilt is a soft mixture of blues, greens and lavender (she's not a pinky kind of gal). I did not want it to look like a baby quilt with all of those soft colors so I threw in some Crocus Kona Solid and Amy Butler Daisy Chain in Navy.

Along with more Amy Butler (Love, Midwest Modern) I also added Pop Garden by Heather Bailey, McKenzie by Dena Designs and a few more Kona solids. There is just enough contrast to bring everything together. The blocks are alternated Basic Pinwheel and Square in Square.

Sashed and backed with McKenzie, Gemstone in Lilac. Bound with a bright fuchsia polka dots. The back is accented with three wide strips of framed patchwork squares. Quilted in a lovely "loop de loop" design.

Chris's quilt

Chris's Quilt had to be "cool and masculine". Big bold blocks with lots of Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow.

Look closely and you'll see some Jennifer Paganelli's Poodle, Patty Young's Mezzanine and Mod Guitar by Michael Miller...what an eclectic ensemble! Kona solids Ocean, Nightfall, Slate, Denim and Straw were thrown in, too.

Bound with Play Stripe in Lagoon. Backed with more Ocean Kona and a few leftover blocks, cut in half and framed with Slate Kona and that wonderful mustard Poodle...love it! Quilted in a wide, wavy, grid design. A manly quilt, indeed!

I've already started another quilt this week. A very, very late Christmas gift for OUR young adult son (from Christmas 2009...I know, I'm horrible!). I hope to have it finished by next weekend. It'll only be a year and two weeks late...hrumph!