My sweet little granddaughter, Callista Rose, is five months old today! I think she’s just about the cutest baby I’ve ever seen, and her happy personality and great big smile have brightened our lives immeasurably these past few months.
I started a baby quilt for her before she was born and finally finished it a few weeks ago. (Guess I spent more time playing with the baby than sewing 🙂
It’s based on the traditional Irish Chain pattern, with appliqued cupcakes filling the empty squares between the pieced areas.
I embroidered her full name and birthdate by hand using DMC floss.
I selected a font that I liked on the computer, then printed out the lettering in the desired size. A blue washout marker was used to trace the lettering onto the fabric, then I did the stitching.
The collection of cotton quilt fabrics included a border print which I used as the main border around the pieced area of the quilt.
Other strips of the border fabric were cut and used as binding for the quilt. Precision was necessary to have just the portion that I wanted on the design to show, like this thin line of darker pink on the back.
The quilt is backed with creamy white non-pilling polar fleece. It provides a nice soft surface for the baby to lie on or under, and it’s a breeze to quilt. I machine quilted Callie’s Cupcake Quilt on my Bernina 1630 sewing machine.
I sketched out lots of design possibilities for the cupcakes, then narrowed it down to just eight.
They have fluffy frosting and sprinkles…
chunks of chocolate…
M & Ms and fondant flowers…
wavy lines of frosting and a cute little heart on top.
The quilt has a light polyester batting which keeps it soft, supple, and not too heavy.
As a finishing touch, I made Callista a ruffly diaper cover to match her quilt…
Callie loves her new quilt from Grandma!
9 Comments
Leslie, this is gorgeous! And Callista is definitely a stunner. Cute as can be. Congratulations on both.
She's such a sweetie-pie. I just love her to pieces!
Leslie, this is so wonderful as is your grand daughter! Enjoy every minute! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Beautiful quilt and baby!
Oh my gosh, how adorable & happy is she!! I don't quilt, but I so appreciate your generosity in sharing the lessons! Your talents know no bounds…
She is so adorable! love her quilt and the diaper cover! She is very lucky to have such an artistic and talented grandmother!
Thanks for the kind comments, everyone!
Your baby is absolutely beautiful – she looks so happy. I'll tell you a little story – when my first husband passed away, our youngest grandson was the same age as your granddaughter. Well, life goes on so I had to go back to work – every evening on my way home from work I stopped to see Sammy – his smile was what kept me going on. How can you look at such a wonderful baby like yours and mine and not know how wonderful life can be if you just go on.
Your quilt is absolutely wonderful also. I love the color combination. I also like your paintings – just found your blogspot today.
Blessings
Bev
Bev, thank you so much for stopping by, and for sharing your personal story. What a blessing these babies are in our lives!