Blog Archive

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

The Fishy Quilt

The day we dismantled the crib I had a good cry.  Plus, the boys "helped" so it kind of broke. Even if Mr. Ed and I  have any more babies, this crib is no more. N LOVED this crib. It was where we put him to destress and calm down. He would lay in there for hours and babble and play. And his happy little face looking over the rail every morning was the absolute best start to my day.

A HATED the crib. From day 1 he completely lost his mind when we put him in there. He slept on me, or in his swing. This might be one of the only pictures of him in there where he wasn't freaking out. So I never worried about having the bunting and all the toys in there because for the most part, I used it for folding laundry. It was purely decorative.

It is also worth mentioning that both my kids were out of the crib before they were a year old. N walked at 10 months and A walked at 11. By a year they could climb out. I lived in fear of injuries so they were quickly moved into toddler beds. A is 3 1/2 now so the crib has been gone for awhile :) 

That being said, I loved his crib bunting. (N had a different set) It was from pottery barn and a friend gave it to me. I thought it was so cute.   And when the crib came down I couldn't quite bring myself to put it in storage. So I hatched a plan to turn it into a quilt for A's toddler bed. I collected fabric and c...a....r....e...f...u...l....l...y took it apart. I pottered with it from time to time, but progress was slow. And I coudn't quite decide what I wanted it to look like.

This fall I finished it!

 I could not be happier with how it turned out. It's exactly what I wanted :)
The 16 squares in the middle are from the front of the bunting and the white borders with the embroidered yellow and red fish are the backing. I managed to use almost every inch so nothing was wasted, which makes me so happy.
 The red and navy borders are soft flannel and the binding is a mix of flannels I had left over. The backing (didn't get a good clear shot of it) is dark blue cotton with a pattern of lighter blue hearts. 
I pieced it all together but chickened out on trying to quilt it. There ended up being different layers of fabric from section to section and I wasn't sure if my machine (or I!) could handle it. Plus, I had a specific design I was really hoping to use: 
So I sent it out to Nancy and she did the most incredible job!
It was so great seeing my "vision" all come together. 

 "Six little ships went sailing by, over the ocean and under the sky"
This square I really loved and was one of the things I most wanted to preserve about the bunting. A little hard to read here (darn bright beautiful sunshine!) but I'm just happy its there.

 It looks so pretty there in the snow, but it also looks fantastic each night when I tuck my baby to bed.
 He was so cute the first day he found it there. He gave me a big smile and said "for me? A quilt for me? You're the best Mom ever!"
It's his new favourite expression. I'll take it :)

(Measures 67x73)





2 comments:

Mrs. Match said...

Beautiful quilt! I love the quote above the crib. Piglet likes his crib, but gets sad when we leave the room, but eventually starts the babbling too. I love seeing his sweet face through the bars when I walk in the morning too. I will definitely cry when we replace it one day!

Jo-Ann said...

I love your quilt, even more I love the meaning/ story of it. The baby in that crib looks so squishy and snuggly it makes me want another that size.