Summer Squares Baby Quilt - Vegas Quilt

One of my very best friends had an adorable, ever so cool and easy going baby girl, Vega few months back and I couldn't be more excited, she's just so sweet! They just got back from Sweden and I'm so excited to be giving her her little quilt!

When my friend just had found out she was pregnant with a baby girl, we had dinner at a restaurant talking about this and that and we came to talk about me wanting to make a quilt of course, so I had to ask if she had any wishes for it. She told me she wanted a ship, a star and a polar bear! Why exactly I don't feel at liberty to share but there were very good reasons for this anyway, and the wheels in my head instantly started turning: How the heck was I going to tie these requests together??

Luckily I had a number of months to sketch and throw away sketches, start over and think again before I had to decide on a design I felt could work. Ships and polar bears aren't exactly girly girly so I really wanted to find fabrics that could work with this while still not being too boyish. Luckily Sweetwaters adorable Noteworthy line was available, soft, sweet colors (including the essential blue and white!), lovely messages in the fabrics and not too girly nor too babyish as I don't think my friend would have liked that too much.
This was the result, a baby version of my Sunkissed Summer Squares Quilt! The Sunkissed Summer Squares quilt pattern is now available for FREE in my Facebook group.  I love the simplicity of the squares combined with the applique, I think they made a perfect combination!

I'm really super happy with the outcome! The applique is shadow trapunto just like in the original but sewn with a bit of a sketch like feeling thanks to the gray thread to give details. This one is also made with a Layer Cake instead of Jelly Roll and a Charm Pack. Soo much smarter and much less fabric waste! How come I didn't think of this earlier?

The adorable little polar bear is afloat on a piece of ice, looking up at the star above him as if for guidance.

The magnificent sail ship! I'm super proud of this, it's really tiny, only 4 inches high! And I'm really glad I managed to get the water to look like water with a bit of movement in it with the quilting, was so nervous about this!

To make the quilt truly baby Vegas, I of course had to include her name somewhere! I didn't want the standard babyish applique letters here as I felt it wouldn't fit with the rest of the quilt so I decided to make it from shadow trapunto in the water. Really happy with the result!

To make your own, just follow the instructions for my Sunkissed Summer Squares quilt and modify applique and size to suit your needs =) 

The Sunkissed Summer Squares quilt pattern is now available for FREE in my Facebook group.