Doll quilt

I almost spoke too soon about the chocolate cure for my daughter. On Thursday I had just mailed off the new doll quilt for my granddaughter when we got a bad-news phone call. My daughter had bowel obstruction-like pains in her gut and had to go to the ER. But this time, thank goodness, there was no bowel obstruction. “Just” a virus, probably, but the hospital in Tennessee is keeping her for two nights to give her IV fluids. A wise decision, considering she has no large bowel and a liver transplant.


The new doll quilt is going into my granddaughter’s lovely BIG Easter basket that I left in Tennessee for her. I picked up a mega-basket for $5 at an antique store in Southern Illinois and bought that nasty plastic grass at Kroger’s, plus the usual chocolate bunnies, peanut butter eggs, and jelly beans. I tried to go easy on the candy—really, I did, but I wanted to make sure there was enough so that my daughter could sneak some bites, too! I also found a Little Golden Book that I think Danica can read, and some hot pink flip-flops. The doll quilt will be the icing on the cake. Here it is:

I made it from the leftover 2½” squares from the 3-D Bow tie—6 squares across and 7 squares down, alternating prints and muslin—and added a border on the left and bottom (cut 3¼” wide), and a final outer border all around (cut 3¾” wide). The applique was fun. I drew some flowers and leaves, fused the fabric to Heat ‘n’ Bond Lite, traced the leaves, and let Danica help me cut them out. She calls the appliques “stick-ons.” I ironed on the flowers and leaves, machine stitched the edges in a shallow zig-zag stitch, and quilted around the edges of the applique and in a grid pattern over the rest of the quilt. It went together pretty easily.

This week I also took a look at some pictures I took in northern Italy two years ago for inspiration for an art quilt. I wanted to put together a small, very portable hand-quilting project for my next trip. My husband and I have had a highly stressful year and have been looking forward to a vacation for a long time—the bay of Naples and the Amalfi Coast, cycling with the St. Louis Cycling Club. (Him, not me. I plan to visit museums and see Pompeii.) I wanted something bright, cheerful, and modern to take along to quilt. I’ll be spending a lot of time in airports and on planes. What do you think I came up with from this mess?