For The Wee Bairn

 I am delighted to announce the launch of a new pattern to join the Sew Karen-ly Created lineup. "For The Wee Bairn" was designed to showcase Island Batik's "Lace and Grace" collection, which is shipping to stores now.

The collection includes a wide range of pretty colours; when I laid them out on the dark teal green,  they immediately reminded me of tartan.  

I chose to make a traditional "Improved Nine Patch" (also called "Glorified Nine Patch") as there is so much movement in the blocks.  I drew the curved sections with an extra dip to give the corners nice, sharp points where they intersect.  As you can see, Polly helped me lay the blocks out on the bed...although she spent as much time playing with her beloved stuffed cat as she did arranging quilt blocks!

The blocks look tricky to sew, but splitting the curved section made it easy to get good joins.  It went together as smooth as warm butter.

Having that seam in place, also gave me a centre line to use as a spine for free motion feathers.  I love when there is no marking involved.

I used 40 weight Aurifil thread for quilting: 2021 Natural for the top, and 1135 Pale Yellow in the bobbin.

Here's how it looks from the back. (colours are WAY off in this photo, but the weird light shows the stitching well!)

"For the Wee Bairn" measures 40" x 49". It is surprisingly simple to sew, and makes a special heirloom quilt for your own wee bairn (baby).

Can you see the tartan kilts swirling around? 

As always, Cheryl Coville of Grandma CoCo's Designs was a tremendous help checking the pattern. Sincere thanks to Island Batik for the wonderful opportunity to work with their beautiful fabrics.  You can see the quilt on page 56 of their current catalogue.   The pattern is available in both printed and digital formats from my website, or ask at your local quilt shop as many are stocking this pattern.