Cape Ann Doll Quilt
Last Saturday I met fabric and pattern designer Liesl Gibson at Quilt Market. And listen ya’ll, she is lovely. I really REALLY want her new book, and all of her new Lisette patterns for women at Joanns, and while we are talking about it, every single one of her Oliver + S children’s patterns. I’m obsessive like that.
Anyway, while I was talking to her about her new fabric line, Cape Ann, that will be available from Moda in October she gave me a present. A little tiny bundle of samples from her STILL NOT AVAILABLE fabrics. I felt like I was carrying around a brick of gold all day. What a treasure! It was kind of like a charm pack, but tinier. Instead of the typical 5″ square, each piece was only 2.5″ square. I know, how cute is that! I wish I’d thought to take a picture of it before I started this project, bummer.
Anyway, as soon as she put it into my hand I knew that it was going to become a doll quilt for Creamie’s baby. She has created the sweetest little doll sized prints, and sweet little baby girl colors, and those little squares were just the right size to make a cute little quilt. (I actually REALLY like those darker blues for boys too. Behind me in that photo up there is a pair of PJs in her booth made from the stripes and dots. They are fantastic, no?) Anyway, the stars had aligned and destiny had opened the doors in front of me. That was Saturday, and by Monday evening this little quilt was finished and Creamie had tucked her baby in for the night.
The current favorite afternoon movie at our house is Tangled… Creamie is never far from her frying pan. She uses it for all sorts of adventures with her babies and stuffed animals as well as creating incredible meals out of fabric scraps and bits of paper in her kitchen. In this photo she is protecting her baby from the “mad guys” which is what she calls the bad guys in all movies. Ha!
I did leave out a few squares from my little stack, they have a little larger print on them but you could hardly see it because of how small the squares are. The white borders were from a free fat quarter in a gift bag I received at the blogger party after Market on Saturday night. And I had the backing and the binding and a scrap of batting in my stash already. Which really is the only reason that this whole project was finished so fast. I didn’t have to leave my house to do it. Awesome!
This is the first time I’ve done any sort of quilting myself. At only 14×17 inches I figured I could handle it. I have a walking foot I’ve had for almost a year and never used. But I really thought I could handle 28 straight lines… you know, that are less than 14 inches long…And guess what, I realized after I was finished that I just don’t enjoy the actual quilting process. I love piecing the top, and I don’t even really mind pressing seams. But I did not particularly enjoy the quilting. I’m sure if I was capable of doing something besides straight lines I might feel differently. And I’ll try it again, eventually. But I got bored, and as my dear friend Krista said “You got bored with a quilt the size of a binder?!” Ah, she always makes me laugh.
I decided to just quilt straight lines, about 1/8″ away from my seams on all sides. Easy, straightforward, and boring. I wish I was confident enough to do something swirly/flowery in those big white borders. It would be so cute, and make those white strips less boring. I was so bored with the quilting process in fact that I for the first time ever machine stitched my binding on, I’ve only ever done it by hand. And now that it is washed, and I’ve had a few days to not be bored with the quilting, I think I might unpick it and tack it down by hand. I really like how much nicer it looks. And it will be a good and fast project to work on. Anyway, I can’t wait for this fabric to become available in the fall. Those little pink polka dots are SO going in my to buy pile. They are so so cute! (Notice I said I was bored with the actual quilting process… not the quilt/fabrics/designer/sewing stuff in general. Just sewing straight boring lines.)
See, even when she is putting her babies to bed and singing them a lullabye, that frying pan is never too far out of reach.
*This is not a sponsored post, though Liesl Gibson did give me the fabric, I didn’t have to promise to blog about it, or sew with it, or write anything or review it or anything. I didn’t even tell her I had a blog. She is just awesome like that. And I think I will be forever star struck. Yep, that one time I met Liesl Gibson…
pinksuedeshoe 
Wait… you made that quilt in less than a week? Yes I know it’s small, but I think it would take me a week of stressing out before I even started. (I don’t sew. I try to like it, but we just don’t get along.)
I love that you call your daughter Creamie. (Don’t worry, I never assumed that was her real name. You aren’t THAT weird. ;))
Fabric = can’t wait.
Quilt = one talented you.
Daughter with the quilt and the dolly and that fry pan = adorable!
that’s a pretty adorable little doll quilt. I take it you won’t be signing up for any doll quilt swaps anytime soon?
The quilt is adorable! I hope you share pictures of your daughter playing with it with Ms. Gibson!! It seems like designers really love to see their fabrics in action.
I was at the Blogger’s Meetup…too bad I didn’t realize you were there or I would have made a point to look for you since I follow your blog!
How adorable!!! Good thing you kept with it. Every one of those 28 lines is perfect. I just love it that Creamie has her dolly, her dolly blanky and the multi-purpose fry pan. Such a clever girl!
My 12 y.o. daughter told me that Tangled is the best animated movie she’s seen – I need to watch it.
Make a 12″ practice quilt sandwich with some cheapo muslin and batting scraps, drop your feed dogs, install the darning foot, and let ‘er rip! Have some loopy fun! No need to be bored ever again.
Really? Done? You amaze me.
How wonderful! I am very impressed with your “quilting” skills.
I enjoy your blog so much! I am on a mission to make a buckle toy for my daughter that you posted about. The designers you posted about are great! I cannot wait to go to my local quilting store and see if they carry those lines.
Thanks for sharing everything and I hope y’all are in good health for the rest of the spring/summer.
Fabulous fabrics, lovely quilt, precious “little mom.” Ahhh . . . isn’t it a great feeling to “finish?” And to have everything at hand is even better – that’s why a “stash” is essential. I share your feeling about quilting . . . I admire those who do it, but the fire isn’t there for me. Do send pics to the designer . . . I’m sure she would be thrilled to see them.
Now see – it’s ONLY the quilting part that I like when I *actually* make a quilt (which isn’t very often, because it bores me). 😉
Love the big “flowery” squares on your quilt though!
Pink,
I loved reading about all your quilt market adventures! That is sew much fun! Creamie’s little baby blanket is almost as cute as Creamie, so you know it is good :D. I love the stripey binding. Also, I hated machine quilting on the first few things that I did, but I’ve learned to like it better now. Keep at it. Even straight lines aren’t so bad, once you get a few quilt finishes under your belt.
xo -E
Dah, Creamie is cute. (Also, cute fabric.) And I love that she love Tangled so much!
xox
Such an adorable quilt, tiny squares are always so sweet especially in these fabrics …
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