Niece Quilt for S

This quilt is for my niece S.  Her favorite color is cerulean blue.  When I was working on the quilt for my nephew J I realized that many of the bluish fabrics would be good for S.  I went to the quilt shop where I had purchased the fabrics earlier in the year and was able to get some of them.  I also picked up others that I thought would work.  This is my fabric pull.  

11 of the fabrics were new and only the light blue floral on the right was from my stash.  I decided to make her an off-set plus quilt.  My blocks finish at 10.5 inches, so I only needed a four inch strip of each fabric except for one of them which was for three blocks.  Here are the first three blocks.  

Miss Kitty was checking out the blocks right when I took the picture and I thought it was so cute.  The rest of the blocks came together that same day.  

It was after piecing these blocks that I decided to finish my August bed quilt.  Then I finished the quilts for M and J.  After that I pieced this quilt top.  

I was able to use some batting leftovers to piece the white batting together for this quilt.  

Then I quilted it on the Bernina Q24.  Because there was so much white space around the pluses I wanted a more intricate quilting design.  I chose to quilt spirals and paisleys with some scattered hearts.  

I quilted it all in one day.  I started earlier, but finished later in the night.  

The next day I took it off the frames.  

And I added the binding.

It then joined the pile of to-be-gifted niece and nephew quilts in my studio.  One day in October after my husband put hooks in the arbor I realized that S might be stopping by.  (It was Kitty's birthday.) That is what gave me the push to take better outdoor pictures of a lot of my quilts.  Her quilt was the first one I photographed that day.  

Then I took the rest of the niece and nephew quilts outside for pictures.  (My husband did a beautiful job refinishing this old bench of my parents.)

They started out as a nice stack, but ended up like this after pictures.  

I was correct.  Miss S stopped by that day with a sweet gift for Kitty.  I was able to surprise her with this quilt.  She loved it and said that her favorite shade of cerulean blue was in a couple fabrics on the quilt.  I showed her the scattered hearts in the quilting and told her to wrap up in the quilt any time she needed a quilty hug.  The hearts also represented how much she will always be loved.  Miss S is so sweet and thoughtful  She always remembers birthdays and is the one who I have helped make some quilts in the past.  I'm glad that she loved her quilt.  

I am also glad that all of these quilts are now with their recipients.  I have now made quilts for 20 of my 49 nieces and nephews.  That is 40% of my goal.  I have another four to complete in the next six months.  One niece is engaged, another almost engaged, and two nephews will be graduating from college soon.  I'm so glad I decided to make "Aunt Jasmine loves you quilts" and not just "wedding quilts."  I love making quilts for my family!

XX,

Jasmine