Friday, October 26, 2012

Monkey Around Baby Quilt

Yay, it's time for the Blogger's Quilt Festival again!  I've enjoyed participating in this in the past (so many neat quilts!) and even won a prize once - one of these days I'll actually get my quilt made from the fabric I purchased with that gift certificate.  I get it out and pet it from time to time, but haven't found the perfect pattern yet.  The quilt I am sharing today would be best for the Baby Quilt category - or maybe Lap Quilt, after all it's not just for babies!

I've finished quite a few quilts this year, some for me and some for other people.  My favorite of them all so far is my Monkey Around Baby Quilt.  This was a project that was on the back burner for quite a while and started out as a custom quilt I made for a customer at Threads That Bind (the quilt shop I work at one day a week).  She came in, wanting a baby quilt made, we picked out a block pattern she liked and fabrics, then I made a quilt for her.  I had in mind to write up a pattern for this quilt, but every time I came back to it I just wasn't inspired. 


Part of what I do at the shop is come up with new shop samples using current fabrics.  We got in some super cute little monkey fabric, so I knew I had to make this quilt with it since the blocks were Monkey Wrench blocks.  I threw the old idea out the window and started fresh, just the blocks set in a more modern way for a more original, fun look.  Then, inspiration hit and I thought, why not add blocks that are half size?  So I ended up redrafting the block a bit so I could add the half size one in the center of one of the block, and ended up with a quilt idea that I really loved!  (I used EQ7 to design the quilt - I love being able to import the fabrics I have available and see the quilt come to life before I even take one stitch.)

The finished quilt measures 47 x 47 and features 12 inch and 6 inch blocks.  I think the 6 inch ones are so cute!

I really enjoyed making the actual quilt and was very pleased with the way it looked, and the process of putting it together.  I quilted it in a swirly design, though I think it would be neat to do a more custom quilting on it as well.  Maybe next time! 
If you like this quilt pattern it is available for purchase in my Etsy Shop

Now go over and check out the rest of the great quilts that are posted!


3 comments:

Pattilou said...

Nice quilt. Could be used with many types of fabric.

Carla said...

Beautiful quilt. I love the churn dash frames ; )

CitricSugar said...

Adorable! I love the layout and mix of sizes...