Halia’s quilt

Since I made a quilt for Jade, I needed to make one for her little sister (Halia), too. Fair is fair, right? So here is the story of Halia’s quilt.

I have always been drawn to appliqued quilts and have always wanted to make one for myself. I knew how to applique, but I wasn’t very good with small pieces. I decided I wanted to learn to be more accomplished, and needed something to practice on. I also needed a project to take to the lake. Something that I could hold in my hands and work on over a summer or two.  I decided to make a quilt with alternating appliqued and 9-patch squares.

I really wanted to make the squares small: 5″. But when I went to the quilt shop to buy my background fabric, the ladies there talked me into making bigger squares: 8″. So I cut 15 or 20 squares out of my background fabric, then sorted through my stash for the applique fabrics. I didn’t have anything in particular in mind…I started out with flowers, and then embroidered on them. I was working mainly freehand, but also had a couple of patterns to follow. I wanted each square to be different. But when I got going, I just wasn’t happy with the size of them. I had had my heart set on the smaller squares and wished I hadn’t let myself be influenced. In hindsight, the quilt shop ladies were right and it WAS better to learn on slightly larger pieces, lol! But there you go. You can’t dictate what the heart wants.

Anyway…one day Fawn brought the girls out to the lake (it was the summer before last) and Halia was fascinated with the squares. She took one of the squares in her little hands and carried it around with her for awhile. She had some fun sorting through the scraps, too.  She was about 20 months old, I think. After they left, I found little scraps hidden in the cushions of the couch and behind the chair. Remembering that makes me smile!

This past summer I changed directions with the quilt and started appliqueing squares specifically with Halia in mind. I made a dog, then a house, a cat with a ball and so on. I decided that this would be Halia’s quilt. I used the same backing fabric I used for Jade’s quilt so the backs would be the same while the fronts were very different. This quilt is tied at each corner, a button is sewn into the center of each 9-patch, and the border is hand quilted with double hearts.

Halia turned 3 in November and I gave her the quilt at Christmas. Here’s our little bunny with her quilt: