3 baby Grannies
I've felt a little stuck-in-the-mud lately, when it comes to project progress. I wager finishing three nearly identical quilts all in a row did me in. That and the garden makeover - ugh. Thank goodness I finished sewing the do. Good Stitches label on the last one this morning, while Aria practiced her math.
Three baby Grannies.
The granny square blocks were made in collaboration with the Faith circle of do. Good Stitches.
Several members volunteered to make more than the customary 2 monthly blocks so that I could create three quilts total - boy, girl and gender neutral. The boy quilt is made with Kona aqua solids and the neutral quilt in Kona snow.
All are machine bound with my zigzag stitch finish. I really don't do it any other way. After quilting, I hand-stitched these do. Good Stitches tags, which were designed for the bee by Lee of Freshly Pieced.
The girl quilt was made with Kona Peony solid, which is a really lovely shade of light pink. I wish I would not have requested purple be included in the color scheme though. I would have liked it better just pink/red/yellow/brown without the purple. I'm not saying I don't like the quilt; I just want to be honest that I have these little regrets sometimes too.
The gender neutral quilt was feeling a little "ho-hum" to me until I added the scrappy yellow/red border. Adds a lot of character, don't you think? I feel like the extra warm colors, combined with all the green and white in the blocks strikes just the right balance for truly gender neutral (instead of boy-in-disguise).
I was blessed to use donated batting and backing for all three of these charity quilts. I want to thank The Warm Company for sending Warm & Natural batting and Robert Kaufman for sending yard cuts of Laurie Wisbrun's Modern Whimsy.
I used one-yard cuts for a whole-cloth backing, landing my quilts at 36" square. The Modern Whimsy Ducks print was perfect in Park/Blue for the boy quilt and in Meadow/Pink for the girl quilt.
This red and green Modern Whimsy Vine print is exactly gender neutral.
Oh, and the quilting. That was fun! I followed Jolene's lead by quilting around each granny layout. Very satisfying!
Tomorrow the kids and I will drop off these charity baby quilts at the Daybreak Crisis Pregnancy Center on our way home from strawberry picking. I hope they each become a symbol of love over some sweet new baby. While it's true that the making was sometimes less-than-thrilling, I am grateful to have the opportunity to partner with many to do good with my two hands.
If you are interested in joining us at do. Good Stitches, please visit our Flickr page to get a feel for the group and register for membership via this form. I'm always organizing new circles for folks that are active on Flickr and enjoy working in a modern quilting style!