I cannot count my day complete
'Til needle, thread and fabric meet.
~Author Unknown

Sharing a common thread with those who love the art of hand embroidery

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

When my niece announced that she was having a baby,

I wanted to make a crib quilt for her. I learned that she wants a black and white nursery, but also likes the colors of  Tiffany blue, pink and light pink, and royal purple.............
but the most challenging............she wants a "rock music" theme for it all.
I started drawing off what I thought rock music instruments should be but I also wanted something a little whimsical and something that said " baby"
So for this " Rock-a-bye" quilt  I designed and hand embroidered  a colorful "song bird" in the colors that she likes

the bird sings a string of colorful embroidered  notes

that float down to a colorful embroidered bar of music

I then appliqued an electric guitar with embroidered bars and strings, as well as a cluster of flowers and leaves on the corner

I then embroidered a keyboard and appliqued the black keys

and I embroidered a set of drumsticks

I appliqued a set of drums in the blue that my niece likes with the baby's name embroidered on the center of the drum. 

My niece was very close to her grandparents who have already passed away. I however had a shirt and a dress that I had asked from them years ago to make special things for the family with.
So with that fabric, I appliqued and embroidered one butterfly from her grandfather's shirt and one butterfly from her grandmother's dress.........so in that way,  they would still be a part of this wonderful celebration of life.
All of this is the center of the quilt.  I still need to remove all of the basting stitches...........I have now to stitch some colored blocks on and then to add a lovely black and white backing.............then I have to hand quilt it all together.
I hope to have this all finished and on it's way by the end of next week...........
think I can do it??
I sure hope I can! 
I have noticed that more and more new mothers are getting very un-traditional when it comes to decorating their nurseries..........
marking their own path and fixing their own nest the way they want.
It's refreshing and delightful to hear of the many different ideas of nurseries these days.
How about you.
Have your heard of a different kind of nursery instead of baby animals and story book characters?
I would love to hear!

10 comments:

Shami Immanuel said...

It's going to be a lovely quilt. So many memories. Stitching is so cute.

FlowerLady Lorraine said...

What a great, one of a king quilt. It is going to be very special for your niece, baby and hubby.

Happy Stitching ~ FlowerLady

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

OMGOSG!! OMGOSH!!!! You Nailed this theme K!! I was more and more excited as I scrolled through the post. Your design is just perfection. I hope your niece loves it as much as I do1

Yes, this is a unique theme. The black and white may seem weird, but if you think about the fact that babies see black and white best, I think your niece is one smart cookie.

I haven't heard of other such nursery themes, but I get there are a lot of them on Pinterest boards. When my grandson (Corey, 20 now) was born we had a nursery for him in our home that was baby jungle animals which was a common theme at the time.
xx, Carol

Ruthlynn said...

Howdy, Can you please post a photo of the completed quilt. I am looking forward to seeing it.

Unknown said...

You did a wonderful job! Wow! The bird was fantastic. She will love it and treasure it, especially when you added the butterflies. I haven't heard of any nursery themes that are too outlandish. But no one is doing the traditional.

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

I think anything to do with nature would be perfect! Love your stitching! Hugs!

Sherri Farley said...

Beautiful!

Gina E. said...

Your stitching is exquisite as always! So creative :-)

Ruthlynn said...

Very nicely done!

A Colorful World said...

I haven't visited in a while, and was delighted so see this marvelous baby quilt in the making! I LOVE how you made the bird out of notes and all the other wonderful embellishments! It's going to be stunning! The addition of the grandparent's clothing butterflies is such a marvelous idea! Love this...can't wait to see it finished!

You are so right about the non-traditional nurseries. It is happening a lot. We want the sweet baby colors, yet they say a newborn responds more to bright contrasts, like that B&W. It's so hard for us to move away from the sweet colors, though! I like that you did some of both.