A Small Hello for the Baby Girl to Be

I boasted a bit that I did not wait until the last minute before my daughter-in-law's baby shower to finish the baby quilt Paisley Pearl, topic of my last post. Well, I guess I am not content unless under pressure, so I started and finished another quilt in my time window before the shower. This one was just a quick inspiration based on a charm pack of forty 5" squares I had from a Me and My Sister fabric collection called Good Morning. I had three reasons for making this small quilt.

First, I was just itching to use this charm pack of bright cheerful colors.

Second, I had made a simple checkered quilt for my daughter out of a charm pack of pinks when her daughter was born mid-October of 2012. It turned out to be the one she used the most because of its small size and the knowledge that I had not slaved over it for hours. It was one of my first FMQ practice quilts and became essentially a portable changing pad. It was called Strawberries and Chocolate and was discussed in my 2012 posts for Oct 24, Sept 5, Aug 15, and Aug 8. 

Third, I had this awesome striped fabric in my stash with vibrant colors that not only matched the charm pack but were amazingly like a garter stitch knit small throw I had purchased at Babies 'R Us quite a while ago. Just look how the striped border and binding goes with those knit stripes. Kismet!

I pulled out the three black squares and one purple square (top row of the charm pack photo) because I thought they were too dark. I eliminated the pale yellow at the lower left corner because it seemed weak to me. This left 35 squares so I snuck in a square from my stash to make a six by six array. Then I added borders of that awesome stripe fabric on just two ends because I wanted a rectangular shape to this rather small quilt. My proposed use for this quilt is a portable changing pad. I simple quilted along the seam lines using a decorative stitch on my Pfaff. I could have practiced meandering and stippling in each of the 4.5" squares but elected not to, so as not to put myself in a last minute rush. Also, the patterns were so lively I did not want to detract from them. This center fabric with the daisies was so cheery that I felt I needed to include it; but then it became the only black in the quilt. 

So it was this black daisy square that drove the choice of the fabric for the 36th square. I went for whimsy. I don't think it will take you too many guesses to figure out which square it is. I later just camouflaged my initials and the year in this block with a black pigment pen. I hope my little granddaughter will one day be looking for and poking at those cute kitties with her tiny little forefinger.

Since I like to add polka dots to every one of my quilts I backed this with a simple dot print. The dots are not precise and so are in keeping with the fun spirit of the front fabrics. Also the backing is a bit tame so the checkered side can take center stage or the back can be used as the primary if a calmer mood is desired. The squiggle quilting along the seams shows up better in this photo.

Here is the completed quilt which measures 27" wide x 35" tall. I try to name my quilts even though I rarely put this info on the quilt itself. I considered Hello Kitty but rejected it as misleading and too commercial. A little baby girl is coming into this world to use this quilt, but who knows exactly what time of day that little baby girl will arrive? I rejected the name Good Morning even though it is the name of the fabric line. This is a small quilt befitting a small name. I decided to name this quilt simply Hello.

In the gift box, along with the small knit throw and this quilt, I tucked a couple of burp cloths I'd made. Again, I thought the stripes and colors of all three items were just meant for one another.

The box I used was from the Fat Quarter Shop as a quilter's way of paying homage to recycling. Fabric in. Quilt out. I wrapped the box in polka dot paper with a decorative band of that striped fabric and a bow of the remaining binding. It is on the right and piqued my daughter-in-law's curiosity at the baby shower yesterday. She was not anticipating a second quilt. I am curious to see if Hello will be pressed into service in the same way and as much as Strawberries and Chocolate was for my daughter. Only time will tell.