Henry's Quilt

What a sweetie!!! How cute is Henry? Words can't describe how adorable Joy and Andrew's little boy Henry MacDonald Watson is... too cute! Here he is enjoying the opening of his new quilt (made by me) when they paid us a visit recently to New York. I'm so happy that I got to give this quilt away in person and meet the little boy in question as so many of my loved ones are in Europe so I don't always get to say hello (although I'm very lucky to get gorgeous pictures and more!). What an honour, thank you Joy + Andrew for making the trip with 5 month old Henry to New Amsterdam from Old Amsterdam. We loved seeing you here and I hope Henry enjoys his quilt back in the Dam! HEART!!

This time, to mix the pattern up a bit, I used a grid quilting technique in an Argyle pattern for the quilting. In the past I've only 'stitched in the ditch' and followed the piecing pattern to create an echo effect, but this required new skills including a guide on the quilters walking foot, chalking out the lines and of course, keeping the lines straight - much easier said than done! I wanted the Argyle pattern to reflect Henry's gallic routes and to offset the busy patterns of the blue fabrics - which are all from my favourite store Purl Soho. The quilting is also based on the diagonal while the piecing is set on a square grid which makes for an interesting counter. I stitched 3 red crosses in the corners to honor the three St Andrew's crosses on the Coat of Arms of Amsterdam and one white cross to represent the Scottish Saltire. And to make sure we are clear whose quilt it is... I added HMW to the centre square by hand. I love a monogram :) 

A quilt for Aga's baby

This is a little quilt I made for Aga's new baby, Freddie. He's actually now nearly 5 months old - so not so new! - but I hope he's going to enjoy rolling around on it. I bought the fabrics in the wonderful Purl store in Soho and included this lovely paisley Liberty print which reminds me of the blanky I had as a child. The Martha Stewart bunny I made in the same fabrics to go with it and you can see from the photo that he was impressed with the bunny! (which makes me so happy!). Aga has a lovely garden in London so now Freddie will have something soft to lay on in the garden. My mother has told me that a quilt should always be initialed or dedicated in some way so I have stitched on his initials (FSB) and his date of birth into the centre square...(and I also initialled the back with MK). I added the little red crosses in the corners to secure the binding hem and I quite like the hand stiched feel they add. After handwashing the quilt you can see how the fabrics pucker a little bit and come together with the batting, it gives a lovely old feeling to the whole thing. My stitching is a little wonky in places (oops!), but I hope this adds to the handmade effect haha! Aga and I worked together for years in Amsterdam and she is still one of my style heroines. She is graceful & calm and has immaculate taste in everything so I really enjoyed chosing the fabrics and colours for a home I new would be calm and tastful (well, I hope I succeeded!). And I hope that that mother & child enjoy this quilt as much as I've enjoyed making it. Happy quilting everybody!