When my “sister” announced over that holidays that she is expecting her first child in June, I was so excited for her! AND I could not wait to start designing a quilt for her first child. Now, when I say “sister”, this is very tongue in cheek. I met Amanda in middle school, and we were always seated one after another: Amanda Jones, Yvonne Jones. After several years of questions from teachers, “are you sisters?” Amanda seized the opportunity and told our 10th grade geometry teacher, “Yes. We are fraternal twins born on April 1st.” You know, we assumed that a birthday on April Fool’s day would be an indication… but it stuck. When I was in college, several times I made the long drive between our schools to visit with her. On one visit, I got the privilege to meet and hang out with her boyfriend (who is now her husband). And as life would have it, we both changed our names from Jones to last names that start with “Fu…”. Life for us has just been in balance like that.
Amanda, Dom, and Yvonne circa 1998
Amanda has an amazing eye for art, and so I knew that she would probably be dreaming up a great plan for the nursery. And I wasn’t disappointed. After a bit of discussion, it was obvious the top of the quilt is going to be made using Kona Royal Blue, Kona White, and Kona Lime. Instead of designing a pattern, we all fell in love with Diamonds in the Deep, and this is the quilt plan:
Diamonds in the Deep
So to keep things easy, I decided to look for a broad cloth backing fabric to match this bright colors. And I am really excited about what I just purchased: Royal Artisan Spirit Shimmer Backing Fabric from BackSide Fabrics.
This quilt is going to be such a pleasure to create for my sis. 🙂
Molli Sparkles Sunday Stash
Linking up with Sunday Stash.
My last name tops all the last name popularity lists so I had similar name issues! There was a teacher at the school with the same name and people (by people, I mean kids) always asked if he was my dad. And one girl I shared a last name with happened to be the daughter of someone my mum had known through school, so they both happened to have kids with someone with the same last name! I was in a class with 2 others and the teacher was the kind to nickname everyone by last name and we never knew who he was talking about. When I started high school there were 7 of us all lined up alphabetically, but though when I moved to a different area and changed schools I was the only one which was weird as I wasn’t used to it! It felt lonely lol!
That backing fabric is so pretty!
That’s a great plan! Congrats on being an auntie! (When I was in college, people used to get me confused with someone else – they call us by the other’s name! We finally met after a few months and have been best friends since. Our lives have unintentionally taken us to the same town, and we still get asked if we’re sisters. We’ve never been bold enough to say yes but maybe we should!)
So exciting for you and your “sister.” Sometimes the best siblings aren’t related by birth but the bond is just as strong. Love the backing fabric. Have you purchased from backside before? I’ve never tried them.
Lovely story, and the perfect backing for your planned top. Have fun making this for the new baby. 😀
What a fun story 🙂 I don’t really keep in touch with any of my school mates. What a shame. You’ll have fun with this project!
Whoa. Totally love this. And how fun that you’ve kept in touch! My BFF is my BFF from high school, and I’m so happy that we are still so close. Super fun. 🙂
So cool! It will be a fantastic looking quilt!
I love that quilt pattern, what a great baby quilt it will be!
Some people say we can’t choose our family, but I think we can. This baby quilt is going to rock!
I’ve had that quilt saved on my pinterest boards for a while since its so cool! I can’t wait to see you make it – that’s one lucky mama to be!
Ahh, how lovely and now exciting! And that backing fabric is just gorgeous.
What a fun quilt to make! I’m so glad you linked to Backside Fabrics, I hadn’t seen them before I definitely need more sources for good backings! The one you picked is going to be so pretty all quilted up!
Can’t wait to see this one grow! 🙂
Hilarious! I was maid of honour at a close friend’s wedding. Even though I have a British/Australian accent and she has an American (Baltimore) accent, we look enough alike to be sisters. We started a whole nonsense story about being twins from divorced parents and childhood separation … People believed us!
Congratulations on the new niece and/or nephew! I love friendships like this! There is a set of four of us that have known one another since diapers! It’s a bond that not everyone understands or gets to experience! Can’t wait to see this one come to life!