A very special quilt

A while ago, a very good friend of mine was to become a gran and asked me whether I would be able to design and make her a quilt for the new baby.

She outlined some of the things she would like; it would have to be perfect for baby, but not in babyquilt size, so the quilt would be lovely to cuddle up in as a toddler and older even. So the colours must be suitable, but not too babyish. And of course it had to be sturdy enough for many uses and wash well.

Silk was out then.. I thought... lol !! Seriously, I thought long and hard, and when I learned the baby was there, a healthy bouncing boy, my thoughts went to the Surf and Sand Line of Michelle d'Amore. I fell in love with this line some time ago and had been saving it for a special occassion, and what was more special than this!

Another love at first sight was Kate Conklin's pattern "There's a square in there". I bought the pattern (you can get it HERE) and set to work. The pattern is a delight to work with. Very well explained and illustrated. (Kate is a genius in pattern writing, do go and have a look at her BLOG)

So here it is! Fresh and soft coloured, yet suitable for an adult as well as for a baby....



What do you guys think?



I handquilted the squares in. One of the things I really liked in Kate's original.



Here it is in it's entirety (66" square and held up very helpfully by my home from school youngest). I apologize for the bad quality of the photos, but with the snow outside (and not stopping for a minute) I did not want to take the quilt outside for some good light.. Shame really, it would have looked lovely in the snow ;-)



The back I kept completely dark. This is handy when putting the quilt on the floor for baby to lie on, or in the play pen, or in the park as a playrug in the spring.. Even though the top has a lot of white (on purpose to keep it fresh)this is great for use with babies as the quilt is totally machine washable up to 40 degrees, so it is easy to pop it in the machine and tumbledry it after (yes, tumble-dry-able too!). It's got to be easy to use with baby!!



So as you see, it is a double sided quilt too.



I do hope my friend likes it... but... if she doesn't.. I think it does look quite at home there in that chair ... mmmm....

What do you guys think?

Update: I heard from my friend and this is what she said;

"there's no way it's staying on that chair and depriving my Grandson of such an absolutely beautiful gift. Sorry! I think it's absolutely fabulous and I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!"

Result!!!! Yoeeeeeehaaaaaayyyy !! Woot woot !!!!