Oliver's Quilt

Greetings from sunny,  humid Sumter, South Carolina where my daughter Abby gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on Tuesday, June 10th.  He was a tiny 7 pounds 7 ounces at birth and 20" long, significantly smaller than his older brother Calvin was, which made labor and delivery a breeze for Abby (sort of) even though he was a week overdue.

Kent and I arrived on June 6th and have done our best to keep Calvin entertained.  We've taken walks to see all the neighborhood dogs, we've been to the pool, we've been having lots of fun racing cars down the long, steep driveway and throwing and chasing balls up and down the same driveway.   We also discovered "The Many Adventures of Chuck and Friends" on Netflix and will go home singing the theme song.  Calvin is so sweet and tender-hearted.  We will miss him and his little brother when we go home and their parents too.

I did bring a quilt for little Oliver and that is actually the reason for this blog, so I guess I'd better say something about that.

This may look a little familiar.  It is the same pattern I used for Natalie's quilt (hers was pink and grey) but it was what Abby wanted except in blue and I didn't mind making it again because it turns out so cute. The pattern is called Hopscotch Baby by Bunny Hill Designs and the fabric was brand new this spring at Hollyhill Quilt Shop from Storybook by Kate and Birdie Paper Company.  The shop posted the picture below on Facebook April 11th and by then I was almost done.   I used all of the fabrics (except for the light one on the far left and the blue with white polka dots - it was from a different collection) plus an additional brown with white stars that they don't show here.  The background fabric is a solid cream.  I went looking for a single collection of fabric because it makes things easy and you know the fabrics will all work together.  This was perfect for a new baby boy.

The little blocks in the quilt center are all 2" square.  I cut a 2 1/2" strip from each print and sewed it together with a 2 1/2" strip of the cream and then went down the row and cut that 4 1/2" strip into
2 1/2" sections.  The pattern tells you to combine those 2 block sections into 4-patches but I prefer to lay them out as they are.  For me, it makes placement of colors and pressing much easier.

 

The airplanes and ships fabric I chose for the back is not used on the front because the print is too large, but it is perfect as the backing.

This was the sixth quilt top I finished in 2014 and I delivered them all at the same time to Quiltmasters for quilting on April 17th.  The quilting pattern is called Cotton Clouds and I was so very pleased when I picked it up.  It was perfect.

Here is little Oliver only 4 hours old.  You can't get much closer to heaven than that.

And here is Calvin getting ready to throw the ball down to Grandpa.  What are we going to do for fun once we get home?

Oliver has to sleep naked (well, diapered) on his "bili bed" with the blue lights for one more day (let's hope) and then he can begin to wear all the cute clothes his Grandma Carpenter and Aunt Erika sent him.  Abby and Paul will be moving to Maryland the end of July, just 30 minutes from where our son David and his wife Jessica live.  We are headed there in August for the arrival of our 3rd granddaughter (5th grandchild) so will get to see how much Oliver has grown in just two months.  I'm a happy grandma!