Saturday, July 15, 2017

Twin Baby Girl Quilts




Twice as Nice


Oh, no, not twins for the same person, but my chance to do a second set of twin girl quilts this year! The first set was for 4 year olds, but this set is meant for soon-to-be's. While the first set was made-to-order and needed to be very close to identical, this set was a gift from Auntie Julie, and I could do whatever I wanted. I wanted them to be similar, but distinctly different.





I started with the Moda line, "A Walk In the Woods." One of the floral graphic prints caught my attention when it first hit the market, and I was so tempted to buy it then. Browsing my local fabric shop and seeing the whole line together closed the deal. I bought half to whole yard pieces of nearly every fabric in the line. This was seriously cute for a modern baby--or two, but would be hard to grow out of.


Lining the strips up by color and value helped me determine order. 



A "Sunshine and Shadow" or "Trip Around the World" was perfect for its design simplicity, and ease in strip piecing. Working with 2.5" strips meant anything extra would be easy to use up in the next quilt, too, and I still had not decided what that might be. 


The lime half circle fabric was a bit of a shocker in the line, but provided some necessary contrast. The linen looking taupe, and soft pink were add-in's to provide lower value fabrics. 


Working on my design wall was a necessity as I put up and pulled off several choices to get it just right.


Quilt 1


Quilt 2

Leftover strips and squares easily converted to Chinese Coins and 4 patches to make this sweet quilt. While I am partial to the ease of a one patch, this was my favorite of the two by the end.


Let the Quilting Begin!

And just as I put the needle down to do a paisley design, I changed my mind to hearts. Sweet little baby hearts, I thought.


Those sweet little hearts actually reminded me of baby bums, and lots and lots of diapers!


Up and down--or over and under, I have been fanatical checking my tension. My long arm had a problem last week with a squeaky needle bar, and an unresolved tension issue that meant an emergency trip to the repair shop. Bolts and Quarters in Parkersburg, WV was highly successful and fixing the issue, but I was still afraid of having to rip so much stitching. So far so good, but it still sits on the long arm frame unfinished. 


Nearly every day we have storms. Not just rain, but ugly thunder and lightning, and that means not taking a chance of a strike to my machine. I shut down and head home until it passes, but often I get bogged down in another project. Today looks good, and with luck I will get both quilts done.


I hope you are taking time to enjoy your summer or winter holidays. My posts have become fewer this month as I work on the mundane parts of life like the garden. Pruning down and ruthless dividing plants has made me feel like I am getting it back under control. I have a friend happy to start her own garden so we both benefit. I will share more pictures as the progress continues.

Come on, Doxie girls.
Let's go sew.

Linking up with~


15 comments:

Danice G said...

Both darling quilt. Those fabrics are adorable. I also am a twin :)

PaulaB quilts said...

That fabric line is great for the child theme but nice and lively as well. The two,Quilts are both winners. You must have a large garden area, looking forward to more photos. Are you into daylilies now? They are doing great here in our apartments garden, which I can see from my living room even when it is too hot to go out there. My favorite time is sunset, when the birds are around. I love watching the house finches, the,sparrows, and hearing a cardinal and a mourning dove, which had a nest in a friend's flower box. There was a,family of chickadees in a tiny birdhouse, four young ones flew from there.

helenjean@midgetgemquilts said...

Well auntie Julie dun good . As a mother of twins I have to say they're lovely quilts . I would have been delighted to have received something like these .

KaHolly said...

I love that you made two different tops but kept the same fabric! Smart thinking!

Julie said...

That twin bond must be so special as one grows up, but I often wonder if it is also a struggle to find your independence as an individual. I'm not a twin, and I don't have that insight, but I've watched other twins growing up. Some loved it, and others weren't quite as enthused. That was the 60's-70's and I think young people today seem much more progressive about ego and self esteem. And maybe it will just be plain old easier to tell the difference if they're identical! Time will tell.

Julie said...

There was a time when our 5 children were all little that we spent our days outside in the garden. Playsets, sandboxes, fairy houses, and even ponies that would overnight on the porch if it got too late to get back to the barn! I'd find kids slipping him their waffles through the window! Those were the days. But I always thought more was better, and I dug and planted until it had grown far too large unless it was a full time job. The quilt bug hit hard, and I watched the plants grow out of control. It became another thing to feel guilty about really.

So far I've unloaded a truck and a half full of bearded iris, Siberian iris, coreopsis, clematis, some dogwood trees, sedum, and more. I waffled on waiting to move the peony bed, but I think we'll be good as long as we simply transplant and do not divide. The goal is to reduce the footprint of the garden all together, and where I cannot to reduce the density of the plants. And maybe it's time to think where I would put another sandbox or playset for grandchildren someday, but please no more ponies. That ship has sailed.

Julie said...

Thank you for the Atta Girl, Helen! You and I think so much alike. I overestimated my time frame already to get them done and will have to ship them now instead of delivering in person. I'm a little disappointed, but it does give me a few extra days to add some special Auntie touches. And all moms with multiples should get a bravery award, IMO. One at a time was plenty!

Julie said...

I didn't have twins myself, but the closest two were 15.5 mos apart. Some days it felt like it! I liked when things were easy, and my kids all had their own color to tell things apart. Cups, toothbrushes, coats, etc. It made it easy for both of us so I hope the new mom likes it, too.

Stitchin At Home said...

I like how you made each different and used the line same line in both. Those hearts are perfect for baby quilts. Well done Aunt Julie!

Linda Swanekamp said...

Lovely fabric for the fantastic quilts! I had some longarm issues also, hopefully resolved. My summer has been so broken up with the grandkids, travel, etc that I am practically crying to sew for long periods. Thank you for sharing all the photos!

Kate said...

Very sweet baby quilts. Love the lime green with the pinks, very bright and fun.

Julie said...

Thank you, Linda. They are turning out to be charming little quilts, I think. I doubt I'll grow tired of that graphic floral which feels so Scandinavian to me.

Isn't it a drag when you can't figure out a machine issue?! The longer I go with domestics the more I can find the more common problems, but the longarm feels like a different beast altogether. I'm glad you are on the other side of yours!

I am so lucky to be able to sew all winter when the mowing season is over. Right now I cover about 30 acres a week. It's a lot, but I will say it gives me long periods to THINK about sewing. Paying attention to color and patterns in nature is a big influence in the direction my work is going, and even the deprivation of not being able to spend those long uninterrupted hours is good. It brings more value to the times I spend in the studio. As I was working on a long term plan for Pink Doxies and counting off the weeks, I realized it's only 6 weeks until September! Those long days to sew will be back before we know it.

Live in the moment, and enjoy your summer, I say!

liz said...

I love them too.

Rebecca Grace said...

I am so curious about your process. You mentioned that you strip pieced that first quilt, but it looked like you were working with a bunch of cut squares on your design wall?? Both quilts are adorable and I love how different they are. Are you freehanding your hearts pattern? It looks great. Too funny that you're thinking baby butts and diapers while you're quilting it!

Julie said...

Rebecca, my fault for saying 'strip piecing'. Typically a Sunshine & Shadow is strip pieced, but I wanted to be more fussy about each print in this one. I started out with the intent of strip piecing, but in the end, Yes, I did use 2.5" squares. These were then chain pieced to maintain the exact order.

Having so many leftover 2.5" squares and strips, the second quilt was designed to use those up. Squares into 4 patches, and strips to the Chinese coin pattern.

The hearts were freehanded. At the very moment I set the needle down into the fabric, I blew off my original idea, and did the hearts. Though the quilt is only a crib, it was surprising how long it took to finish the quilting. A hot studio made it difficult to stick with it.

Thanks for asking, and giving me a chance to clarify.