Sophie's Quilt

For most quilters a new grandbaby means an opportunity to make a new baby quilt.  I am no different than most, which means that when my youngest son, Rory, and his wife Meggan had a new baby girl, I jumped on the chance to make a little quilt just for her.  Well, I say "jumped" but the truth is that I waited until she came to finally ask Meggan what she wanted for the baby.  We decided on soft greens and pinks, but I couldn't help myself when I found this pink paisley in the stash.....it was just screaming "ME! ME! Pick me!" so of course, I picked it. It was exactly the right color of pink and had the prettiest greens, golds and and beiges mixed in.  But I had to crank it up a notch, afterall, it's for a new grandbaby.  So, I tossed in a deeper solid pink and a dark green.  I knew I wanted something fast, not fussy, so I quickly settled on a nine-patch with my focus fabric forming a large block.  I recently found a quilter blog, which I can no longer find, on which the lady had been making cute fabric dolls.  The darlings reminded me of the stacking dolls shaped like eggs that fit one inside another gradually going from smallest to largest.  Turns out they are called matryoshka dolls, or babushka dolls. Originally Russian, the nesting dolls decrease in size and are placed one inside the other.  With three grand-daughters under the age of two, I had to try my hand at making a few of fabric scraps and polyfil.  It was fun and easy but then I had to go a step further: I added some dolls to the quilt I made for Sophie.  It was easy enough, just make a doll face and dress and  applique it on.  

For faces, I pulled out some embroidery thread and painted on lips, eyes, hair and a nose.  I found that loading my needle with one color of thread and sewing all the lips on, for example, before loading a second color of thread saved quite a bit of time.  And since I tossed on only five little dolls, it didn't take long at all.  If I were to do it again, I think I'd add hands or some other details,
but since the original dolls on the website don't have hands, I chose to leave them off.  I love the idea, and I think I'll probably consider doing something like this again.  I've been trying to think of a way to include the babushka dolls on a quilt that would fit in the nursery rhyme series, but that's been a little elusive.  So, until I can figure out how to make the two work together, I'll have to let the idea perk a little longer in my brain.  If you have an idea, please consider sharing with me.  I love the little babushkas, they are so cute, and fast and easy to boot!  They deserve a comfy nursery rhyme quilt to rest on!

Here are a few more pictures.  Hope you enjoy.  Have a great week and thanks for visiting!