Big news! I sold my first baby quilt on Etsy! I was so excited to see that order come across. My quilt, Snips and Snails, featuring the ‘Here Boy’ fabric ,was purchased. I wrote a post about it earlier. After recovering from the excitement of selling a quilt, I decided I needed to make another baby boy quilt to list in my Etsy shop.
So… What to make?? I love reading and/or hearing about the process that an individual quilter uses to develop the design, choose the right fabrics, auditioning different prints and then coming up with the quilt they want to create. It is interesting to hear about those that choose and buy fabric first and then go forward from there vs those that develop the design and then purchase fabric. I fall into the camp of buying the fabric first. I love to pick up pieces that strike me for whatever reason. Once I have a few that go together or even one that will be a good focus fabric, I start to think about what I want to make with it.
This week I made a darling baby quilt for a boy. I developed the project around a piece of fabric with a vintage design featuring horses. About two weeks ago I found a great deal on some fabric at a garage sale. I don’t tend to pay much attention to garage sales but my husband happened to notice an ad for a garage sale that listed fabric for sale. My interest was piqued and I went to it. I scored an assortment of awesome fabric!
Back to the retro fabric that I found. It is adorable. I became sort of nostalgic as it reminded me of a book I read to my boys when they were little. This book, Cowboy Small, was written in 1949 by Lois Lenski. We read this book constantly and it was especially favored by my eIdest, Andrew (now 29 years). At some point in the story the cowboys are shown sitting around their campfire (eating beans out of a can) singing “Home on the Range.” At this point, Andrew would belt out his rendition of Home, Home on the Range. Look at the picture below from the book.
On the fabric there is a bucking horse that is so similar to this. Look to the left side.
Such a good memory for me. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to use the horse print for a baby quilt for a little guy. I selected a simple pattern alternating whole 8″ blocks with 8″ four-patch blocks. The pattern was inspired by a quilt made by Amy Smart on Diary of a Quilter. Making the quilt five blocks wide and five blocks tall would give me a baby quilt that measured 40″ x 40″. Ok, focal fabric selected and pattern decided upon, I just needed the scrappy fabrics for the four patch blocks. I pulled a stack of fat quarters and played around with those. Fortunately my sister was visiting for the weekend so I had her take a look. As only a sister is allowed, she looked at a number of them and scratched them from the list right away. She vetoed them saying they were too modern, wrong color, or too contemporary. Looking through my shelves, she pulled a black and white houndstooth pattern and the black, white and red paisley. Perfect additions! She has such good taste. Cutting and piecing such a simple design took no time at all.
I backed it with this sweet Moda fabric called Honky Tonk. This was the perfect piece to use as backing. It features cactus, guitars and musical notes – just like Cowboy Small!
I quilted it with a large meandering pattern. I really enjoyed quilting this project. The stippling is a little herky-jerky in spots but overall it looks good (especially after washing and drying the quilt.) The binding is a bias stripe of light tan and red. Adorable! I machine stitched the binding on both the front and back of the quilt. (If you need a good tutorial on quilt binding, check out this one at Crazy Mom Quilts.)
Overall, this project was a blast. It was a trip down memory lane which is always a fun thing! I will list this quilt in my Etsy shop for some lucky little cowboy.
Linking to: Freemotion by the River, Needle and Thread Thursday, Finish it Up Friday, and TGIFF. Links to each of these sites are available at the top of my page under Link Ups. There are some great projects featured at these linky sites. Take a minute and check them out!
Super cute. I love the binding. Reminds me of rope. And congrats on your first Etsy sale!
Thanks Sarah — Rope, I didn’t even think of that. I like it! Have a good weekend.
Love this quilt. I think the pieces of paisley look like bandanas! As usual you did a great job.
xx
Thanks sissie – It was really all because of Cathy’s expert advice. 😉
You are so clever and I’m so happy for you. Congrats.
Thanks Judy. I appreciate your sweet words.
Have a wonderful weekend – hopefully it won’t be toooo terribly hot??
B.
My nephew just loved horses when he was growing up – some little guy is going to love it! Super cute binding
Thank you Heather! I love the binding. Choosing a good binding is one of my favorite parts of quilting.
Take care and thanks for stopping by,
Bernie
Very cute! I just love red quilts!
Thanks so much! I appreciate your kindness.
Have a lovely weekend.
Bernie
I did not realize how much my son loved Cowboy Small until he was over 40 and the father or a little boy. He found the book at my house and read it to his son. He says that his favorite part was the end papers that had drawings of various bits of cowboy paraphernalia (sp?). Like your backing fabric. Brilliant!
That is such a good story! My kids loved all of the “Small” books. Policeman Small, Farmer Small, Mr. Small’s Auto – I have the set and can’t wait to read them to my grandkids someday. Thank you for your sweet words!
Take care,
Bernie
I love the way the quilting matches the curving pattern on the backside fabric. It is really a great quilt!
Thanks Tina. I’m so glad you like it!
An adorable quilt with another touching story. You are amazing.
Thanks Patti. This was a good trip down memory lane. Yesterday I asked Andrew if he remembered the book and he absolutely did. Didn’t remember his singing but that’s ok– I remember it well.
Congratulations on your sale of the baby quilt, Bernie! And this lovely finish! How nice to have your sister help you pick out the coordinating fabrics. Loved this post – reading to our kids is so important! Thank you for joining in the Let’s Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts!
Very cute! Love that binding — it gives it the perfect little punch. Congrats on your first sale too!
Thank you on both counts. So excited to see that sale pop up in my email! Hope you are having a lovely week!
Cowboy Small is so cute and the backing! and the binding! Great fabric combos. I so need to make more quilts & such to put in my Etsy Shop. Congrats on your boy quilt sale! I need to make more boy quilts myself. I found you on the Let’s Bee Social Link up. Please stop by to visit my blog when you get a chance.
Hi Zenia, Thanks for coming by, I just read the last three posts on your blog. Happy (belated) one year blogavsary! You asked about links parties on the giveaway post. I have a series of link ups that I participate in. They are on the main page of my blog at the top, under Link Ups. Check those out if you want more. Thanks for stopping by!
Bernie
Congrats on the first sale! I like both of them ( i went and checked out the other ) very much! 🙂