Genevieve's Quilt

First she was a sweet, sweet dream for my husband and me. . .then she was a real baby (6 months old here, with me).

Then she had a little brother and moved from her crib to a twin bed.  She needed a twin blanket of some kind, and I thought, I'm going to make her a quilt (I had just gotten tremendous sewing confidence with a new Bernina and super-sewer best friend). 

It was the first quilt I ever made.

It is a simple Nine Patch, made using a vintage sheet as the light color and then pink, blue, and yellow scraps from Rebecca's stash.  I didn't buy any fabric for this quilt - too overwhelming to me to throw open the fabric store floodgates.  I got a walking foot for my Bernina, and machine quilted in simple diamonds, making an X across each patch.  I didn't mark any quilting lines and the wonkiness here and there does not bother me.

The back is another vintage sheet.  When I took a photo of the quilt For the Record and for the online quilt show, it was the first time I actually stepped back and studied the design.  I love the little pathways made by the dark and light patches.  I also like the darker blue in the middle, with a few random patches close to the middle so it's got an unstudied charm (to my eye).

Genevieve loves it almost as much as her "pinky," the pink and yellow crib comforter I made her (folded at the foot of her first bed, here; now she's got the top bunk).

However, I would put a border around the Nine Patch quilt next time instead of doing the nine-patch right up to the binding.  I like how a plain border frames a quilt. (Kim's quilt was the next quilt, and that did, you can see, have a border).

This is a church directory photo of our family around the time that Genevieve's quilt was done when she was 3 and Ben 6 months old.

And today, she is still my very sweet girl and she loves her quilt.  We wash and use it hard. . . maybe there will be a little scrap left for her in her adult life, something to treasure and remember a childhood by.

Now for a quilt for my sweet boy. . .

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