12/28/11

Doll Quilt for Elyce

About a month ago, I volunteered to make doll quilts for a friend's granddaughters.  Lisa is lucky enough to have five granddaughters, and her own daughter is expecting another baby.  Will there be another?  Lisa gave me a little run down on the girls' favorite colors and what sorts of things they like.  I decided to start with Elyce, the oldest, and move on down the line by age.

Elyce is something of a musician.  She plays the flute, and her favorite color is purple.  I did an internet search for "flute player quilt patterns," and came up with a quilt called (not surprisingly) The Flute Player Quilt, designed by Joyce Mori.

 

The quilt was a little larger than I wanted it, and so I only used the center kokopelli motif in my doll quilt.  I had intended to just add some borders around it, but I was hoping for something a little fancier than just strips of fabric.  And then I happened upon another quilt called "Tuxedo Cats" that appeared in the Summer, 2011, issue of Fons & Porters Easy Quilts, which had a really nice sashing I thought would work well for my border.


So I combined elements of both quilts and came up with this quilt for Elyce.


The outer border fabric is some I picked up while we were traveling in New Mexico last winter.  I'm going to use it for the back as well, and I'll bind it with a dark purple.  I thought about using black, but I'd like to brighten it up a little by using more color.  Elyce has some Native American ancestry, and so this design seems especially well-suited for her.  It was a lot of fun to make it.  I'm looking forward to moving onto the next granddaughter, Kylee.  Kylee likes horses and the color blue.  I already have a design picked out for her.

This quilt is sitting for a bit now.  I need to decide how to quilt it.  It helps me to let a quilt sit out in my sewing room for a few days so that I can study its colors and shapes.  Eventually, I can envision a design that I think will work, and then I go after it.  This one will probably be a lot of outlining, but I want to think about the most effective way to show off its colors and shapes.

7 comments:

Teresa in Music City said...

I always let a quilt sit out where I can see it while I decide how to quilt it too! I am sometimes amazed how suddenly a quilt design will just "come" to me and works out perfectly. Your quilt is very inventive and beautiful!

Kate said...

Wow! Very nicely done. I love the colors you choose.

Snoodles said...

That's beautiful - I think she'll love it!

WoolenSails said...

Beautiful quilt, she will love it.

Debbie

Lynda Halliger Otvos (Lynda M O) said...

Elyce will adore this gem of beautiful fabric and genius designing. Just Wonderful Barbara. Your recipients are given a truly special gift when a handmade and designed piece of yours is gifted to them.

Happy new Year to you and Mike.

Sarah said...

What a cute little quilt - the bowties really draw your eye into the kokopelli.

KatieQ said...

I love how you combined different design elements to come up with a perfect little quilt. Kokopeli is such a fun character to use.