A tale of two baby quilts

Once upon a time in Missouri, there lived a soldier and his wife who loved each other very much. They had not been married long when the Korean War came, sending the soldier to Germany for about a year. When he left, his young wife was pregnant with their first child. She would have the baby before he returned.

Somehow the wife just knew she was having a boy. While she carried him in her belly, the young wife and her mother set out to make something nice for her child-to-be -- a lightweight crib quilt, one that was simple but useful.



No fancy patchwork here, just a panel of cute little blue mommy and baby ducks on the front.



The panel is bordered by strips of white cotton, and then the quilt is self-bound with blue polka-dotted fabric from the back layer.



Fifty-one years later, that wife learned that her granddaughter -- her eldest child's eldest child -- was herself expecting a son. And so it was that the quilt with which Poppop once snuggled became Isaac's.

Even though the quilt was as ancient as Poppop himself, it was a fantastic performer as far as blankets go. I think Grandma Ross would agree with me that it wasn't intended to be a decoration. We wore and washed the heck out of it, and it just looks more awesome with time with that faded retro pattern, so popular at fabric stores now. It was the world's most perfect size to use as a nursing cover or a playmat, when it wasn't being used to warm up sleeping children. The key component, though, was how light it was. I could fold it up and it didn't need much space, so I took it everywhere.

I think people tire of hearing me extol the virtues of my dad's baby quilt by now. It is time to show them what I really mean. For example, Aunt Jean is growing me a giant summer-baby nephew right now. You know that kid needs a lightweight blanket upon which to do his lounging. So I made him one, patterned after the Grandma Ross's quilt.



I chose the fabrics to catch little Jonas's eye in a developmentally appropriate way. Lots of faces and pictures of kids on the front, see? (with Woody for scale)



And a red, black, and white pattern in back for lots of contrast.



My craftsmanship is a little ghettofied -- a home-ec major I was not -- but I hope Jonas won't mind too much. I sure had fun making my first quilt, and for such an important person.