Winn's Baby Quilt

Recently, I was commissioned to create a baby quilt for the newborn son of an avid fisherman.  The client asked that the baby's name be embroidered on the quilt and selected the fishing bear applique. She left the rest up to me.  I LOVE it when that happens!

Color selection came first.  Lately, while perusing Pinterest for nursery ideas (I have another grandson on the way!), I've noticed gray being used in nurseries.  It's a great departure from the traditional pinks and blues, in my opinion!

With the fishing theme in mind, aqua blue seemed the natural choice for a secondary color.  I'm in love with the combination of colors!



This quilt began with strips of varying widths ranging from about 3" to about 7".  No pattern here...  if you follow my blog, you know I rarely use a pattern.  Too many rules!

Next, the appliques were added: the bear, the baby's name on an oval patch, and two trout. That bear is so cute!

Then came my favorite part, the quilting!  I used my midarm quilter for the free motion quilting, which included some wavy lines to resemble water and pebbling to resemble, well, pebbles in the water.  I also quilted the outlines of several trout "swimming" across the quilt. 

The quilt is backed in the aqua and white crosshatch fabric and bound with one of the gray prints.  

Making it was tons of fun!

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Welcome to Heaven!

One of my latest creations... inspired by one of my mom's paintings....

Honestly, I cannot take credit for this alone...  the painting (on the left) that inspired the mini-quilt was done by my mother, Coy Lou Ryan.  My sister, Christie, and I discovered it while cleaning out her things after she passed away.  Neither of us had ever seen the painting.

A little history...

Our mother battled cancer off and on for about 27 years, beginning with breast cancer.  She was one of the most creative, glass-half-full, deeply spiritual people I've ever known.  Her positive outlook and her faith were, I am certain, what kept her alive all those years.  She was beautiful inside and out, and brought joy to everyone she encountered.  Here she is with one of the many Santas she created.

So back to the painting and the quilt...

Since we didn't get to talk with Mom about the painting, we are left to speculate about its meaning and her thinking as she painted it.  Daddy didn't remember the painting or ever hearing her talk about it.  Christie and I believe it is a depiction of Mom in heaven. We think she is the woman, welcoming someone new, who is being escorted by the angel at the bottom of the painting.  Note the city of gold in the upper right corner and the lion and the lamb below the city.  In the sky, you can see angels flying...

Both my sister and I really liked the painting, and each of us would have liked to have the painting in our home.  So I decided to make a replica in a quilted wall hanging.

We made photocopies of the painting (in sections) and then pieced them together to have a same-size reproduction.  We cut the copy into pieces and traced the pieces onto fabric, fusing the fabrics in place on our background fabric.  Christie did most of the tracing and cutting while I did the sewing.  This took HOURS!!!  It was great sister time.  All told, we spent about 18-20 hours over the course of a day and a half on the quilt.

The plan is that we will take turns trading out the painting and the quilt in our homes...  we each like both so much that we decided that was the fairest solution.