Ever since finding out we were having a baby, I debated about what kind of quilt to make. I'd whipped up several fun baby quilts for friends in the past, but this is a quilt I would be living with for a long time, so it was harder to come up with a plan. As we decided not to find out if we were having a boy or a girl, I wasted even more time trying to find an appropriately unisex design. In the end I settled on a simple, colorful design using some favorite Japanese fabrics I had been saving and some new additions as well. I loved it!... until I didn't anymore.
The problem arose only when I started collecting fabrics for a dear friend who is also expecting this summer. As I pulled together fabrics that were very *her,* I started to like the new fabrics and quilt design even better (zig-zags inspired by Sujata's book--a must read if you want easy quilt inspiration)! Could I really give away this beautiful quilt? I asked myself, how many quilts does one baby really need? I couldn't really keep both especially knowing that he probably has another on the way from Nana soon too.
In the end, the first quilt was finished on my due date, and surprise, it was a boy! (Although Teddy wasn't born until 12 days later). Once I met him, it was clear that the first quilt was perfect for him. Mother's intuition, perhaps? I finished up the binding on the zigzag quilt as Teddy napped. As much as I loved the second quilt, it gave me more joy to package it up and send it off to my good friend and Teddy's new friend, arriving soon.
Teddy's quilt was my first large-scale machine quilting project on my small Janome and it worked out well enough that I went for zigzag quilting on the second one. All in all, it was easier than I expected and a lot of fun to whip these up so quickly. I might be going back to knitted baby blankets for a while but as soon as we get on a regular napping schedule here, I am pulling out the machine again. In the meantime, I'll be busy deciding what to make next.
