Christmas Gift Quilts

This year I gifted four quilts -- a baby quilt for Hadley, my niece's baby (so I guess that makes Hadley my "great niece"), and wedding quilts for Ian (nephew) and Katelyn (who got married November 2009), Jacob (nephew) and Whitney (who got married January 2009), and Dan (nephew) and Emily (who got married May 2008). Yes, I know I was very slow getting some of the quilts finished, but better late than never.

I knew that I didn't want to go with traditional-looking fabrics for Ian's quilt. So, years ago (probably 10!) I made batik log cabin blocks with the plan that I would eventually give it to Ian.  I think the finished quilt is gorgeous. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it after it was quilted, so I only have a photo of the un-quilted quilt top. On every other block I replaced that last row of "logs" with plain black fabric. It creates a unique optical illusion of movement.

There is an inner border of the same plain black fabric, and then the border is made from the same size strips used for the log cabin blocks.  Although the fabrics are definitely not traditional fabrics, the black with the vibrant colors somewhat reminds me of Amish quilts.

I think Ian and Katelyn liked the quilt.

 

The quilt above is Jake and Whitney's quilt.  I also made it several years ago -- with Jacob in mind. I liked the masculine look of the pattern -- which I adapted from a similar quilt I saw in a magazine. I named the quilt  "Plaza Mayor" because it reminded me of the Plaza Mayor in  Madrid, which happens to be where Jacob served his LDS  mission. The rich, warm colors are also reminiscent (I think) of Spain.  I used a  Buggy Barn way of creating the blocks. I stacked 3 fat quarters and  cut the pieces with the rotary cutter. Then I mixed and matched the fabrics. So there are 3 blocks with the same 3 fabrics -- but the fabrics are in different locations on the block.

Dan and Emily's quilt was also sewn several years ago from a Thimbleberries block of the month, called Thimbleberries Village. I had it all assembled except for the borders because I wasn't sure who would be the recipient. Then when Dan married Emily, who is from Minnesota, I knew this would be the quilt for them. I received a thoughtful thank-you note today from them.

 

Lastly, Hadley's baby quilt. It doesn't look like your typical baby quilt -- but I think it's beautiful. Hadley's  mom, Cassie, picked pink and brown for her wedding colors. So after I made this Civil War-style quilt, I figured it would be perfect for Hadley, even if she was already 11 months old (and walking!) by the time she received it.

I have 2 other nieces and one nephew who are married -- and they have their quilts. I'll probably post photos one of these days. And I have seven more nieces and nephews who will receive wedding quilts -- and a few could surprise us and get  married in 2010. So, I'm already working on their quilts so hopefully they will receive them when they get married, instead of after they celebrate one or more anniversaries. (I'm way behind on baby quilts, so I don't know if all of the great-nieces and nephews will receive baby quilts... we'll see.)