Marigold Quilt

I was asked by Lindsey of Pen and Paper Patterns to try the pattern for her Marigold Quilt.  I enjoy following her work on Instagram. Her style is so clean and cute, and she is always churning out new patterns.

Picking out colors

I love how this pattern uses two sizes of the drunkard's path block to create a super fun flower motif.  The applique details in the flower centers are so fun too.  Since my Juki only does straight stitch, I had to dig my old Necci out for the zig-zag around the applique.  It actually worked!  I was so relieved not to have to hand-stitch it.  :)

I also quilted this myself, by echoing the flowers. I chose a wool batting to make this quilt extra puffy. 

Finished quilt! 

I went with a combination of solids for my version of this quilt.  I love how it turned out, but I know from seeing other testers' versions that it looks amazing in some well-chosen prints too.  Thanks for asking me to test this adorable pattern, Lindsey!  Now I'm just waiting for someone I know to have a little baby girl.

Shot Cotton baby quilt

Susan got a wedding quilt and I decided to also make her a baby quilt! Why does Susan get two quilts when many people in my life have yet to receive one from me?  I don't know. Maybe I miss her, or feel guilty about not visiting her more?  Most likely her big life events just happened to fall at a time when I had an open quilting schedule.

Again, I wanted to make something simple for her, in line with her taste for all things clean and minimal.  I started with big stripes in soft tones.  Then a friend at Chicago Modern Quilt Guild told me about making a quilt using shot cottons and wool batting, and how the quilt was so soft and had such a nice hand.  Typically I don't give a lot of thought to the hand of softness of the quilts I make, but in this instance it seemed like making a baby quilt extra soft would be a great idea.  I had a gorgeous stack of shot cottons that I had purchased at a great price on Craftsy.  I loved this stack so much that I decided to use it as it was, not changing the order of the colors at all.  I paired the colors up as they came off the stack, cut them into pies and crusts, and sewed them into drunkards path blocks.  I decided to add borders, and the phrase "Hello, world" to the bottom of the quilt.  I wanted to make examples of the letters I had sketched out for a pattern (Simple Shapes Alphabet, hopefully coming out soon), and I thought it was a cute expression to welcome a new person into the world.  I did not know at the time that this is a famous reference to computer programming.   Even though I did watch Halt and Catch Fire.  But I digress.  By now I had come to think of the original front as the back, and this more colorful patchwork as the front.  Of course Susan can use it in whatever way she prefers.  

I sent this to Nikki Maroon for some very simple, open quilting.  After it was bound I added a label made from a piece of vintage embroidered linen.  I hope it's getting plenty of use by sweet baby Nico.   

UPDATE: Nico is the most adorable butterball and he looks perfect in his stripes on his quilt. This picture made my heart leap.