Birthday quilt for a First Communion

Odd title, isn't it? My niece, Claudia, had her First Communion this past April, and didn't want a fancy dress. My sister, who makes custom wedding dresses, and I were itching to make a smocked, beaded, embroidered silk dress. But my niece likes plain and simple. We were so disappointed and her mom was so sweet and apologetic. Thinking I should really give her something handmade, I rummaged around my sewing room and found a birthday quilt kit that I had bought last year. I then realized that I had promised her mom years ago that I would make Claudia a quilt, and had neglected to do so. Bad Aunty.

The original quilt design had "Happy Birthday" along the right side, and the name quilted on a removable banner on the top. I thought this was odd until I realized it was probably meant to be left at Grandma's house and the name changed whenever the relevant birthday granddaughter spent the night.  I left out the "Happy Birthday" banner and incorporated the name into the main body of the quilt. This was a really easy to make quilt - it consisted of square panels joined in sashes with a simple border. I used lots of gold machine embroidery in it to go with all the gold in the fabric. I quilted around the candies, cake layers, candles, etc., using a nice Mettler variegated thread. The quilting isn't too terribly precise, as I had only allotted a few days to get it all done. The fabric is "Party Time" by Makower. If you ever get a chance to make a quilt with this particular brand, try it out. Their fabrics are nice and moderately heavy, with plenty of gold in them. I have loved every bit of Makower that I've ever come across.

The quilt came out relatively nice, certainly not an art quilt by any means, but a good quilt for a young and darling niece. And we did have a celebration for her First Communion, so the theme of the quilt fit right in.