Lucia’s 9-Patch

We’ve lived in our house for about a year and a half now and the kids rooms have changed three times since we moved in.  We now have a girls room and a boys room.  The girls decided that they want their room to look like a jewel box.  They want it to be bright blue, glowing wouldn’t be too much.  They even have a bright blue glass door handle.  Each of them have a quilt that I’ve made on their beds, but they were made many years ago so they don’t reflect who they are now or what they envision for their room.  

Lucia's nine-patch

I am nearly finished quilting a log cabin for my older daughter, Paolina, but my younger daughter Lucia needs a quilt that will work with their vision and still be great for her on its own.  I had a couple of ideas that I liked, but Lucia saw a picture of a nine-patch, pointed to it and said she wanted it on her bed.  The one Lucia saw was made by Kaffe Fassett, and I think was made entirely of his fabric, but I chose from fabric I already had.  My first attempt lacked a cohesive color scheme, which I did kind of like but it didn't fit Lucia's taste.  She's not into pink right now.  

First try

I took apart my first attempt and started again using green as my base color and some blues. I’ve completed the top, and so far I like it, but I need to make some decisions about quilting and get it on her bed before she grows up and moves out! 

Lucia's blossoms

This quilt top also gives me lots of room to embroider designs into the 9 inch squares that alternate with the nine patch blocks.  I can use that space to capture who Lucia is now, a little bit like a scrapbook.  Lucia loves frogs and seeing animals in the natural world.  She's a really good watcher.  A few days ago she brought me some blossoms she found on a neighborhood walk because she thought they were really beautiful.  She's the kind of person who can see beauty in small things (like ant lines and snail trails).  She sees their intricate parts and loves to study them.  It's something I really love about her and I'd like to capture that excellent quality in her quilt.  I'd like to use the blocks to embroider things like the blossoms she brought me, some frogs, and her beta fish, Frilly.  

Lucia's Blossoms with Floss Options

There's also a poem by Robert Frost that I think I'll embroider onto the quilt somewhere:

The Rose Family

The rose is a rose,
And was always a rose.  
But the theory now goes
That the apple's a rose,
And the pear is, and so's                            
The plum, I suppose.
The dear only knows
What will next prove a rose.
You, of course, are a rose--
But were always a rose.

I'm linking up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced Quilts