Baby Quilt, Almost Done

Almost done. This is a baby quilt for one of my nieces. 

Finished Two Baby Quilts

Of the four baby quilts I started in Key West, I finished two so far.  This first one is a denim rag quilt four my third grandson, done with some of the same fabrics that I used to make quilts for my other two grandsons. I washed and dried it twice to help fray the raw edges some more. Then I trimmed it up, cutting the tangled threads off.  I was really happy with how soft and cute it came out. 

The second one is a memory quilt and a baby quilt, made with my sister's clothes.  It is for her first grandchild, a daughter, due in April.  I hand drew the stencils for the hearts, and hand stitched them on the patchwork.  I started it in Key West, cutting and hand stitching the hearts when we didn't have electricity, waiting in queue for full hookups for our RV.  As soon as we got it, I pieced it on the machine.  When we got to Key Largo, to a friend's house, I finished the hand quilting.

Initially I was going to try to quilt heart shapes in the border area but realized the squares weren't the same size as the rest of the patchwork due to the binding (shown on the right).  So I just did straight lines.  Well, sort of straight.

You can kind of see the two outlines of hearts in five rows in the body of the quilt.  It came out pretty good.  I was happy with it.

Hidden in Plain View

I just finished reading this book.  It's about quilting codes and research on how they were used for the underground railroad as secret messages to prepare to flee and mnemonics for remembering instructions and routes. It is fascinating history on quilting and on how it played a part in the struggle against tyranny in the United States.