Baby quilt number one is done

 The first quilt I'm making for babies that are due next month is done. The shower is Sunday, so I'll post more photos that show more detail later, but here's a sneak peak at the finished quilt.

Gender-neutral baby quilts are not easy

  
It seems like everyone I know is having a baby in October, which means I have three baby quilts to make this month.

I already shared one preview, now it's time for a second. This mom isn't going to find out the sex of the baby until the little one arrives, that means I need to make a gender-neutral baby quilt.

I've started one in pastel oranges, blues and browns from a charm pack and matching jelly roll I had in my stash, but now I'm not so sure it's going to work. Although the colors could work for a boy or girl, I'm worried the flower prints put it in the girl category. 

 

What do you think? Could this quilt work for a boy or a girl or should I go back to the drawing board?

Baby quilt preview

I've got a nephew due to arrive in October so I started a quilt for him. His parents are big Illini fans so it will be made of blue, orange and white solids. 

I can't share too many photos just in case my sister-in-law looks at this post, but I can tell you that it's made of 1 1/2-inch squares and I'm going to need a design wall to put it together.

Family stories in quilts

I went the the Iowa Illinois Quilt Study Group for the first time last weekend. The study topic was family quilts.

The only family quilts I have are ones that I'll make and pass down to my children someday. And I hope that these hypothetical children will cherish these quilts so that they don't end up at an estate sale or on Ebay when I'm gone.

That's where appraiser and lecturer Janette Dwyer purchased many of the baby quilts she brought to show as part of her lecture, "Baby Quilts: A blanket with a heartbeat."

As you can imagine, antique baby quilts in good condition are rare since most of them received several washings and were used until they were worn out. Many of the surviving examples we have came from wealthy families who could afford to make more than one baby quilt.


Some of the most adorable quilts Janette brought with were quilt kits from the 1950s of embroidered scenes such as bears, babies and animals.

Janette's advice for deciding when to buy an antique quilt is: "If I want it or I don't have it. ... Also if you touch it twice, then buy it."

One thing that was emphasized over and over again was to get as much information as you possibly could about a quilt from the seller when you buy it. But take the provenance with a grain of salt, because sometimes oral histories are not correct and the information garnered from the fabric and pattern put it in a different time period than family history places it.

I'll be writing more posts about the Study Group later this week. It was pretty neat, and I have lots of pictures of some really amazing quilts.

Getting ready for my first fair

I haven't blogged much recently because I've been very busy getting ready for a craft fair this weekend.

I've never been in a fair before, so I was afraid I wouldn't have enough items to fill my six-foot folding table, but as I arranged them all last night, I realized my problem is that I'm running out of space, which is a good problem to have I think.


I've made table runners, table toppers, pot holders, Christmas stockings, a messenger bag, baby/lap quilts and matching doll quilts. I'm still finishing up a few items, but I'll have close to 50 available on the day of the fair and all but three are priced between $5 and $30.


On top of those low prices, I'm offering 20 percent off to anyone who mentions this blog when purchasing.

The fair is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 25, at Ben Franklin Crafts, 2500 52nd Ave., Moline. It's behind SouthPark Mall. I hope to see you all there.

Matching baby and doll quilt for sale

I found a cute charm pack of contemporary pink and brown fabrics, combined it with a coordinating jelly roll and a cute white print to create a matching baby and doll quilt.

They are both for sale at www.stephaniesoebbing.etsy.com.