Entertaining the Latest Baby! (Not Mine)

Welcome to the world, Declan! (FYI, your name is pronounced DECK-lan, which I didn't know until your grandma, my friend Lynn, told me about you!) 

I made you one of my "Everything in the World" quilts, though sadly some of this stuff is no longer in this world (like Freddy Mercury, RBG and dinosaurs), and some stuff  has never been in the world, depending how you define reality (Mighty Mouse, unicorns, the Golden Snitch.) 

In case you take an interest in quilting some day, here's how I made this. 

First, I spent 30 years collecting random novelty fabrics that tickled my fancy. I spent free time fussy-cutting 4" squares from them. Organize those by topic into nine-patches. Below, the science-themed nine-patch is on the lower right, and the people-themed one is on the left (with RBG, Mercury, and others.)

Below, find Mighty, anteaters, monkeys, Laurel Burch parrots, pandas, and butterflies so large that I cut them to size of two squares sewn together (7.5" long by 4" high). That technically makes this nine-patch an eight-patch.

Below is the sports and games nine-patch, featuring soccer players, dominos, bikes, skiers, and Harry Potter playing Quidditch. (Here, I cut two patches from the same fabric for the best possible view.)

I've lately been making my backings from scrap strips, and they've come out so fun and unruly that I like them more than the fronts! I hope babies and parents will spend hours speculating about what they're seeing!

At the top, in black-and-white (which infants love), there are fried eggs as well as foliage, musical notation, and plenty of dots. 

Below, I love the fabric that looks like measuring tapes (in the middle, with long red and yellow areas) but I do wish that these tapes started at 1 and went to 36. The numbers start in the teens, then jump around, which is artistic but annoying. It would be great if a child could more easily measure things against it.

Below, you can see leftovers of some fabrics that are also on the front -- finding the matches is another game kids can play with this quilt.

Making these is just too much fun! So thank you for being born, Declan, and giving me the opportunity to play this into your reality.

And other readers, if, you want to see more baby quilts like this, click "baby quilt" in the word cloud on the right.