Keeley

Joyce's niece was expecting a baby girl and I was invited to the baby shower. Excited, I made the baby blankets, burp cloths and bibs for her, tied them into a neat little packet with a golden ribbon.

And then the threat of a snowstorm (so many this past winter) kept me from attending the shower :-(

I gave the neat little packet to Joyce and eventually, the parents got the blankets and they sent me a Thank you note.

I was touched. A few weeks after the baby was born, I received an email from Joyce - the blankets and burp cloths were a big hit. What tickled me even more was their request - could they have two more of those baby blankets and burp cloths? ABSOLUTELY. Next day, I mailed the baby blankets + burp cloths. What did Joyce do in return? She sent me a check. Horrible Joyce!!! I called Joyce and asked her, why did she do that? She replied because she wanted to.

Do you know what I want to do? Of course you do. I want to make a quilt for the baby. Now, only if I knew her name. So I sent a text to Joyce.

The conversation in text went as follows:
Preeti - What is the baby's name?
Joyce - Newley
Preeti - Newley?
Joyce - Keeley, Keeley, Keeley is the baby's name.

It is obvious that my friend was frustrated (a bit) with her auto correct function on the iPhone. I still have not met Keeley but I already love her. May be, her quilt should be like little love notes or little postcards.

When I saw "Postcards from Hawaii", I knew  immediately - that is it. I am going to make that quilt (or something inspired by it). It is a simple, easy to follow, quick-to-put-together design and can be made from scraps too. Stitch together two strips of fabric - one floral and one white and cut them into squares. Stitch them in columns add sashing and you are done!!! So, let's make it a teensy weensy bit complicated. I decided to add letters into the pattern - letters that would spell K-E-E-L-E-Y.

Stumbling along with the alphabets!!!

The Es were easy. However, all three of them look slightly different. It took great skill (ha ha ha...) to give them their unique wonkiness. The L was super easy. The Y was difficult - took two tries to get it right. And the K was the problem child. In fact, I took one of the discarded Ks and used it to fashion the Y. Now, the Y is not perfect either. But then I did not set out to make anything perfect. In fact, I am the queen of wonky and I love it...

Keeley - Finished Top

See you don't really see the wonkiness from here!!!

I chose a floral pattern for the backing and pieced purple binding (from jelly roll strips). I used a decorative (looks like Cs) stitch for the quilting. This stitch can be mirrored. If the first line was Cs, I mirrored the next - makes it look like clouds :-)

 Go ahead, take a closer look.

My painted toes peeping through the grass are a bonus :-D

And here is the label...

Hope I get to meet Keeley soon!!! And then I will take a picture of Keeley with her personalized quilt and update this post - of course!!!

And I almost forget. This is Quilt # 20!!! Doing the happy (wonky) dance!!!
I 'd love to hear your thoughts  on wonky?