Kale's Baby Quilt

In May of 2004, I started to make two (more) baby quilts. Four of my friends in Halifax (two couples) were having babies about 6 weeks apart. I hemmed and hawed about making quilts for both of them (making one quilt is a huge task, let alone making two at the same time) but in the end, the quilting bug won out. The one on the right was made for Aidan Smith and has its own section. The one on the left was made for Kale Boutilier.

I think of Aidan's quilt as the "cat quilt" and Kale's as the "Duck Quilt".

As with all of my other quilts, these are 100% hand-sewn and hand-quilted. Even the seam binding is made by hand.

I alternated the ducks between right-side-up and upside-down to add visual interest to the design. Also, I find upside-down ducks ridiculously cute.

The finished quilt is 32 x 40 inches, made from twenty 8-inch squares.

The duck design is traced from a stencil I bought at an art supply store. I traced it onto iron-on interfacing, then ironed the interfacing to the cotton. I cut out the pieces, leaving a 1/4 inch seam, then cut the curves and appliqued the ducks to the squares. I know that you can do applique patterns using freezer paper (which is not the same thing as wax paper!) but I couldn't find any at the time. The interfacing actually adds a nice depth to the design, so I would use it again..

This is the back of the quilt. The quilting is not as nice as I would have liked because I found the backing fabric tore if I pulled the quilting thread too tight. I thought it was a higher quality fabric than it was. Let this be a lesson -- always use the good cotton!

This is my first time putting a "tag" on my quilts, but I like the idea of it. Like an artist signing his or her work, this is a way for me to "sign" my quilt. It's also a nice reminder of when the quilt was made and for what occasion.

The design for this tag is taken from a book called the Encyclopedia of Classic Quilt Patterns. I took it to my local copy shop and they transferred it onto the fabric for me.