10 July, 2008

Solar Soleil

The last stitches went in the quilt during a repeat of "Queer Eye" this afternoon. I am so excited to finally finish this. E doesn't have a room so this is the first thing that is just hers. And I have to say, I think it might be my favourite of all my circle quilts.

I decided to go with a simple, yet bold background so the circles would pop. And, because I expected to finish before the baby was born, I wanted to use black and white. Do you know that babies can't see colour early on? The contrast of black on white is best for them. At the last minute I decided to take the circles beyond the edge of the quilt. Those ones are hand appliqued on, while the rest are done by machine.

The whole thing is quilted as a sun. I have some wavy concentric circles in the center, surrounded by rays/flames. You can see some detail here.

I've said it before, but I firmly believe the back of a quilt should be beautiful too. Inspired by that grey floral by Denyse Schmidt, I pieced this back. Funny story. That fabric was my favourite and my initial plan for the baby quilt was going to be inspired by that fabric. But I was convinced I was having a boy and thought that fabric was too feminine. When I showed Hubby the back he said that was his favourite fabric too.


The lighting on this shot is pretty bad, forgive me. I wanted to show you the label though. I think it ties the front to the back. I always put the name of the quilt and some comments or words on it. Then I always put my name on the label, state the content (pretty much always 100% cotton) and whether it was a pattern, an original design, or if someone else worked on the quilt. The label will be a reflection of the history of the quilt.

The name? Hubby said it reminded him of a solar system and I had already thought of the Soleil. E's name means bright one or shining light. It all just fit together.

Finally, I thought I should share a picture of the recipient enjoying her gift. Okay, so I doubt she can actually enjoy it just yet. But she sure looks good on it!

6 comments:

ModernGear TV said...

Cheryl, she is adorable! Congratulations!! Love the quilt too...I am in a major quilting mood, though I have never done it before...

* elizabeth * said...

That came out amazing. And she certainly looks like she's enjoying it, sweet little thing. Actually, your quilt colourse are like an inverse of your fireworks shot in your last post, I noticed while I was scrolling. They go well together.

Skye @ Planet Jinxatron said...

Absolutely gorgeous quilt.

The comment about black and white being "best" for babies, though, is a little off. For babies with vision problems, black and white is used in vision therapy. This idea has been taken and applied across all babies so that companies can sell you more stuff.

For babies with normal vision, the *world* is best for them. They may like black and white objects because they can perceive high contrast, but they also like everything else.

After all, mama's face is very important and it's not high contrast black and white!

Amanda Jean said...

what a beautiful quilt, cheryl! you did an amazing job. I agree, the quilt back should be beautiful as well. your label is wonderful! you must be delighted to have created such a beautiful quilt for your little cutie.

jacquie said...

love this...thanks for dropping by my blog. i'm so glad i found yours...really enjoyed reading and oogling...i'll be back for more!

Samantha said...

I love love love this quilt. So very much. Stunning.