2023 saw our family enter a wonderful new season with the safe arrival of our first grandchild. With our five oldest 'children' now married (2017, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022) it came as very welcome news that a grandchild was to be expected in May 2023.
Baby quilts are an inviting size to make - not too big, not too small. After much consideration I settled on making a gradient I spy quilt, inspired by the amazing quilts of House of Taiga. This quilt would be both machine sewn and quilted with the intention that it would be heavily used and frequently machine washed. In addition I hoped it would be of ongoing use and interest (tummy-time fun) to the baby/child while also being pleasant to look at. The plan was to choose a design which can be used as a base idea for a quilt for each future grandchild - yet also allow for adjustment according to baby's gender and each new family's uniqueness of lifestyle and passions.
Soon after a gender reveal on Christmas Day 2022, I began searching through my current fabrics, our local Spotlight (fabric and homewares shop) and various online shops for suitable 'boy fabrics'. I was soon busy cutting 5" squares, and I thought I may as well cut four squares while each fabric was on the cutting mat, simultaneously creating a little stack of squares for next time. Over the course of several weeks, I reached my goal of a minimum of 99 different fabrics.
With ironing board butted up against our dining table, the layout was fine-tuned, producing the desired gradient effect. Eleven rows of nine squares. Each row was carefully sewn together, then the rows into pairs, then pairs together etc, until the quilt top was complete. The actual construction was very quick at this stage - compared to my recent quilts which were all larger and completely hand sewn.
For extra security I machine quilted along each seam as well as diagonally each way. I must admit I was somewhat fussy with thread colours, switching threads several times to blend with the fabric squares, even it meant changing threads midway through a quilting line. It just added that little bit of extra love into an otherwise rather simple quilt design.
The quilt was finished in time to gift on the day of our daughter's baby shower in early March - and has been well loved by the new parents as well as Baby B, which makes me a very happy quilting Nana 😊
