Baby Girl and George the Giraffe

We have been on a journey to make a special quilt for a special Baby Girl.  George the giraffe was born out of a simple idea and two little pictures for inspiration.  **Warning:  lots of photos to follow!**

We knew we wanted George to have leaves hanging from his mouth as a nod to Dominic, the big brother.  He has a proclivity to pulling off his socks and then falling asleep with one in his mouth.  Or just chew on them for a good time.

Phase One – Design

Based on those inspirations, we traced George on some interfacing.  Not the sticky kind for appliqué pieces, but just to ensure a clean non-raveling edge to survive many washings.

Turning the pieces right-side-out was pretty easy except for that darn short tail and some of the tree branches.  A few choice words may have been said that wouldn’t normally be shared around Dominic’s or Baby Girl’s ears.  ~smile~

Phase Two – Let the Appliqué Begin

Appliquéing went fairly quickly, especially on these skinny giraffe legs!

This gives you a good look at the black buttonhole stitch I chose, as well as the Grunge-type gray fabric background.  Also, isn’t that just the perfect giraffe fabric?!!

Here is cute George all buttonholed and a closer look at his heart eyes as he watched me buttonhole the tree.  His mouth, hoofs and leaves were yet to be added!

Phase Three – Leaves and a Serengeti Sun

Andrea’s (a.k.a. Mom) favorite color is orange, and we wanted to include a nice sun in the sky.  We selected a few orange pretties and I sewed them in a wedge shape.  

That wedge became the Serengeti sun in the upper left corner.  Buttonholing just like all the other pieces with black thread was completed.  Some orange ‘rays’ were added later, once the crosshatch quilting was complete so George can bask.

Many, many, MANY leaves were sewn to be scattered throughout and falling from the tree.  Many of these fabrics are leftover solids from my Postcard quilt.

Phase Four – To Border or Not To Border

If one border is good, maybe three are better.  We thought it would be fun to use many of those same solid fabrics found in the leaves in a multi-colored border.  Surround that by a thinner giraffe-hued fabric and wide gray on the edge, and we were happy.

Quilting then commenced in the aforementioned crosshatch pattern.  It goes fairly quickly with a walking foot and those diamond shapes are one of Dominic’s favorite to try to pick up.

Phase Five – Binding and Reveal

George had to watch over the binding process, and make sure it was done securely and well.  I did my best!  You can also see in the photo on the right that the rays of the sun were added after quilting was finished.

Then it was time for a washing in Dreft and we all waited for Baby Girl to arrive.  Here you can see the finished quilt and the dotted backing we chose.  Fairly large at 49″ x 59″, we hope she will feel all the love that went into every aspect of this project.

 Finally, here is George in the crib just awaiting a little sweet girl to snuggle with.

Oops, I almost forgot to share a picture of Baby Girl Addison with George.  You didn’t really want to see her, did you?!!  We can now share Addison Brooke, born on January 4th at 22.75″ long and 9# 5oz.  We are so excited to say that both mom and baby are doing well.

And Dominic with his little sister, who he’s fine with unless she cries.  Then he joins in.  Sweet boy!

 

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