Black AND White? Black OR White?

When I decided to make a baby quilt for my brother's first grandchild, I knew I would use bright colors with black and white fabrics in a Nickel Quilt design. I chose to use TWO bright fabrics because I didn't have enough of either!

I paired one bright fabric with assorted black prints for the half-square triangle blocks and the other with white with black fabrics for the 4-patch blocks. Didn't like it! The bright colors didn't pop, the black and the white fabrics didn't work together. It looked like a jumble...




Plan B: I chose some black and white fabrics and made more 4-patch blocks. I didn't like the black and white either (no photos), so I made MORE 4-patch blocks using using black with white fabrics. Yes!! Much better!

Piecing is fast, even with the false starts and fabric/color changes. The backing is a cozy blue flannel and I quilted it using a fun panto which combines points and lines with curves and swirls. I used a bright blue thread which seems like an odd choice, but really looks great on both the black fabrics and the bright colors.


The finished quilt - the colors are subdued in this photo. Imagine them very bright! Like in the next picture!










I prefer dark binding as a "frame", so the binding is black with a bright red piping.

I hope Caleb likes it!

Becky's Quilts

I quilted two cute baby quilts - for Becky's grandsons. The first was an I Spy quilt, so I quilted the alphabet and numbers, one in each block. I thought it was neat that the C was on the Curious George block.


The second quilt was a Maple Island pattern by Debbie Bowles called Carnival. Becky used beautiful fabrics, including some she dyed. I quilted a simple stars and loops all-over pattern. Several times in the quilting, I wrote CAMDEN, the little boy this quilt is made for.




You can see more pictures of the quilts and the quilting on flickr.