New York Beautiful

Not much is happening on the quilting front lately.  Hubby is out of town, the house is bearing down on me, and I'm simply exhausted by the time the girls stop jumping on the bed and chattering to each other, finally collapsing in the heat.  Rather than leave you with another picture of a chubby baby in a bathing suit I thought I would open the vaults and share some of my older quilts.

This New York Beauty was a pivotal piece of work for me. It was my first truly scrappy-style piece, although not truly a scrappy quilt. At last count I think there were 23 different fabrics in this quilt. Before this quilt I was quite set on simple patterns on a white or single coloured background.  Since this quilt I've barely made a quilt that way.  Looking at this quilt again, I've also barely made a quilt with borders since.  One step forward, one step back.

I made this quilt as a wedding present for my brother and sister-in-law.  Actually, Hubby and I made this quilt. When I first started giving quilts as presents Hubby insisted that his name also be on the label.  My insistence was that he actually help with the process if he wanted his name on the label. Usually that meant expressing an opinion on the fabric choices or the layout, or helping me baste the quilt.  In this case he helped pick the pattern and even took the class with me to learn how to make the block.

For the record, if you have any single male friends sign them up for a quilt class.  If there are no young, hot chicks in it, there are lots of moms and grandmoms with single daughters who will be happy to set him up. I was in the room with him and they were still trying to set him up with other women! 
The colours for this quilt were chosen to remind my brother and sister-in-law of the beach. They met and started dating in California. And my sister-in-law is from New Orleans. It seemed appropriate to do what we could to remind them of warmer weather since they were moving back to Edmonton after they got married.  And we chose the New York Beauty block because my brother proposed on the top of the Empire State Building.  Such meaning, it might be a bit too much.

It is probably safe to say that this is one of the most-used quilts I've ever made. My sister-in-law uses this, with a duvet and a heating pad to sleep. I mentioned that my sister-in-law is from New Orleans and moved to Edmonton, Alberta, right?