Our lives will never be the same!

We welcomed two sweet new grand babies into the world this month, #5 and #6!

Identical girls and they each came in at just over 5 pounds and are healthy and strong! They are so precious! I can’t get enough of snuggling!

I was so excited to make the perfect quilts for them, as soon as we found out! I went through all my past quilt pictures looking for inspiration. I looked at all my inspiration folders, Pinterest, Instagram… and was stumped. I wanted something different. Modern. Clean. Simple. It took me a few months, and for our daughter to choose nursery colors, before I landed on a design.

When I chose The Dogwood Quilt design I knew I wanted to make the quilts significantly smaller, than a traditional baby size, because we knew, being twins, these were going to be smaller babies and I wanted them to be size appropriate. I couldn’t just remove rows, in this design, but needed to shrink the blocks.

The original design has the squares cut at 3.5″. After doing all my figuring, I needed them to be cut at 3″. My first thought, no problem, I haven’t been quilting for 42 years without learning a thing or two.

Figuring out how to change the radius of a circle so that the inner fits the outer, with seam allowances, to create any size Drunkards Path Template is a game changer. No more shopping for a new size template when I want to make a different size. All it took was figuring out a different way to use a tool I have had for ages and a rainy day. Rainy days are made for unraveling complicated techniques.

Then I started sampling out different sizes until the math created the preferred size quilt. I took these pictures to remind me how I did it in case I need to recreate this quilt. I am not sure this is the size I used for the actual quilts since I sampled so many. I do know the simple square blocks of the resized quilt are finished at 2.5″ if you are looking to do the same.

Liberty of London Tana Lawn makes for the most luscious baby quilt backings and windy quilt photography days make for the easiest way of showing the quilt backs!

As long as everyone swaddles a baby, in their quilt, the different backings will help to remind us, in photos later, which baby is which no matter which side of the quilt is showing.

On the left is Claire Aude C Organic Liberty of London Tana Lawn Fabric
and on the right is Field Flowers A Organic Liberty of London Tana Lawn Fabric both gorgeous florals.

After drawing out a lattice hand quilting pattern, from The Stencil Company, in both a 2″ and 1″ size, then test quilting them, I decided this double quilting of the lattice, times two quilts, was a lot of work but would be so worth it. It was exactly what I envisioned! The smaller size looked more appropriate.

The white quilting thread got lost so all the sample lattice quilting had to be removed. I then chose complimentary rose and yellow threads for the hand quilting and I think it really pops. I can’t remember the last time I used colored thread for my background quilting. My late mother-in-law made the teeny tiniest stitches and always stitched in color. This feels like a nod to her for her most recent great grand daughters.

Doesn’t everyone hang their quilts from the back of their husband’s studio for photographing?!!! I have king size mounts where I need the extension ladder and lower hangers that I can reach, without help, on a step ladder.

Quilt front fabrics are all Pure Solids by Art Gallery purchased through Elizabeth Bolton Studio, who was more than generous with her time in helping me put together my colors and my order. When ordering fabrics online it is always a surprise so I was tickled that they matched my Liberty of London backings so perfectly! If you have never used Pure Solids, they are very similar to Kona Cottons but a slightly lighter weight balancing better with the Liberty of London Tana Lawn fabrics.

Snow ~background
Verve Violet ~Petals
Banana Cream ~Petals
Warm Wave ~Binding

The Dogwood Quilt
X2
by Sewfrench

For our newest granddaughters, Frances and Sloane

Machine pieced, hand quilted, full of love, in a lattice design.

34″ x 36″

2.5″ finished squares

A Peartree Designs original, manipulated to be a custom size.

October 2021