Before they even knew they were having a girl, Jess decided she wanted to have a woodland themed nursery and she also told me that Madison's "Hip Baby" quilt was her favorite pattern. With that in mind, I went in search of an "inspiration" fabric, a print with little critters. After looking around a bit at my local quilt shops and coming up empty handed, I searched online and discovered this print but couldn't find it available anywhere to order.
My friend Kay and I were at Boersma's in McMinnville and I figured if anyone would have it, they would. I've found other fabrics there that I thought would be long gone. I asked one of the employees where to look for children's fabrics and she directed me downstairs (their store is enormous and was in the middle of a fresh paint job and rearranging). And wouldn't you know it, there it was, just sitting there on the shelf waiting for me. I snatched it up along with several other coordinating prints and went up the stairs smiling.
I put off starting the quilt until after Jess had her ultrasound near the beginning of April. Once we knew the baby was going to be a girl I went on another search to find some feminine looking fabrics to add to the mix. I found this white with dots (below) that was part of the same "critters" collection at The Pine Needle and also picked up a couple of oranges including the stripe I used as the binding and a grey. At this point I had everything I needed and was excited to finally begin.
The quilt is made with five different 6" blocks randomly arranged in seven rows of six blocks each surrounded by a border of 3" squares making the finished quilt 42" x 48". The original "Hip Baby" pattern shows seven rows with five blocks making the quilt narrower and longer but I like my arrangement better.
I sent it off to June at Quiltmasters in Brownsville, Oregon to be quilted in the Flutter Bys pattern. June got it back to me in plenty of time to attach the binding and give it to Jess at her baby shower on May 24th.
David was spending three months on assignment in the Chicago area office so Jess decided to spend part of that time in California visiting her family and about a week in Oregon. My daughter Annie (who lives near me) and I decided to give Jess a baby shower brunch and she was thrilled. Jess was able to see many of her family and friends who live in Oregon. Her mom, Kim Lynch even flew up from California to attend. Here are some pictures of the event.
We put out these cute toddler pictures of David and Jess and imagined what a cute baby they would have.
Everyone went home with a yummy soap from Anthropologie and Jess was showered with all the baby clothes she could possibly need and lots of other fabulous gifts. Annie and I felt like it was a smashing success. We didn't take a picture of the food, but it was delicious.
Maryland is a beautiful place. David and Jess live in a lovely third floor apartment in Derwood with nice views of the trees around and plenty of comfortable space. David walks about one mile to the metro station and gets dropped off at the door of the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) where he works as a Radiation Health Physicist. He is on paternity leave for the next week or so which is nice for us and for Jess. They are both tired but feeling better every day. Laurel sleeps and eats, and pees and poops and even cries a little bit but from what I have observed, her parents know exactly what she needs. Laurel has nothing to complain about, that is for sure.
The quilt is gorgeous, the baby is gorgeous, the parents are gorgeous and the grandparents beaming!!!!! Love it::))
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