Mia's Parade

I recently had the pleasure of quilting this sweet baby quilt for Cindy.  The pattern is Mia's Parade by The Quilt Patch. I always like to personalize a baby quilt if they come to me after the baby has been born.  I asked Cindy if she wanted to add the baby's name to the quilt and if she wanted the name to be boldly on the quilt on more subtly snuck in.  She said she preferred bold and once Alexander arrived and the name was confirmed, she  left the rest up to me.

I played with some design ideas using my iPad and the "Draw On Photo" app.  I didn't have a full plan going in, but I did figure out a spacing for the letters that I was happy with so I could use that as a reference.

I started with the letters.  I drew many a bubble letter on title pages in Junior High school (I'm dating myself now), and it seems to be a skill that translated easily to quilting!  Next I added the balloons.

At first I wasn't sure what to do to fill in the open spaces between the balloons and the elephants.  I decided some ribbons on the balloons and some hearts blowing from the elephant trunks would be just right.

Then, what do I do with the background areas?  I decided to differentiate the ground and the sky so some pumpkin seeds on the bottom and some wispy clouds to finish it off.

I can't really imagine having more fun quilting than I did completing this one.  I am thankful for trusting customers like Cindy who let me play!