Baby Quilt Design

I've been totally off the sewing wagon for months I think. I've been trying to focus on our rhythm, food and, of course, the holidays...

Meanwhile, I'm missing the sewing. I've been knitting, which helps, but it meets a different need. I like to knit while the kids are playing. That way, my Presence is felt, but I'm not involved in the play. It's perfect. And it's very calming for me, especially to do simple projects with natural yarns. I just finished these little hats for my nephews who are due in May and June. I used Blue Sky Alpacas organic cotton, my favorite yarn to knit - I love the way it feels between my fingers as I knit.

I just finished these little hats for my SILs who are both due with boys in the next two months! Note that one is much bigger than the other even though I used the same newborn pattern for each - that's what happens when Yoav sees a cute baby hat and decides to attach a string to go under the neck and try to get it on his own head! Oops. So no longer newborn, but still for a baby ;)



There's a baby blanket I really want to make from the Louisa Harding book as well. Of course I have the problem of where to buy the yarn. I found this online yarn store that has organic cotton yarn, but I'll probably get some o-wool balance (blend of organic cotton and wool) for the blanket.

Anyway... So as much as I love knitting, I'm missing sewing. Last night I started thinking about making a baby quilt for either a SIL or a friend who's due in June. I really love thinking about how to put the fabrics together and quilt patterns. I had been thinking about making myself a skirt, which would probably take me no more than an hour or so, but I find myself drawn to quilting. I feel like sewing clothes is more "productive", but there's also the issue of my mental health and since I find peace in quilting, I'm going to try going back to that for a bit. Clothes are so cheap these days, it's not even worth making your own clothes unless you enjoy it.

So.. I designed a baby quilt and planned out the fabrics. On my hand-drawn pattern, the blue represents the turquoise polka dot pattern fabric and the green is the greenish polka dot. Then the inside squares will be the bird fabric and mushroom fabric. The striped fabric will be the border. The fabric is Cloud 9 organic cotton that I purchased on Etsy from Modern Organic Fabrics (I highly recommend it - the woman who runs the shop is really nice and offers free shipping and even said she's split up shipments for me in $50 increments since I get hit with customs tax for imports over $50).
Here's the pattern and fabric plan:





I'm hoping the kids will fall asleep at a reasonable time today so I can start cutting. Jeremy is in NY, which means I can make a simple dinner and have less clean-up...

How cool is it that the boys are upstairs playing together while I wrote this?!??!? :)