Our little dude got a jump start on art collecting. This is thanks to the longstanding tradition of gifting quilts to new babies. Hand made quilts come in many varieties. Growing up in my house I saw the process of just about every iteration of quilt imaginable. The most basic design is literally just two large pieces of fabric sewn around a layer of batting, punctuated by short sections of yarn tied in knots. Nothing wrong with this type of quilt. It is probably the most utilitarian solely based on how many trips through the laundry it will withstand before starting to fall apart. It can also be constructed by most people who have a cursory understanding of how to sew. Most of it can be done with a basic sewing machine, save for tied yarn.
At the other end of the spectrum is the type of quilt that is meticulously designed, then painstakingly stitched together. This type of quilt usually starts out as a drawing on a piece paper before the fabric is selected, cut into blocks and laid out on a large table or floor. The blocks are removed from the layout, piece by piece and sewn to each other to create the top of the quilt. After the top is assembled and joined with the quilt back (with a layer of batting in between), the needlepoint work begins. For those who can do it well, the end result is a museum worthy piece that also happens to be bedding.
As luck would have it, bebe Breinholt has multiple talented quiltrixes (quiltresses?) in his circle. I’m not going to call them quilters, because they are ladies and they deserve to not be lumped in with the masses of other blanket builders out there. One such quiltrix is our close neighbor in the Catskills, Jen Bentley. In addition to being a generally awesome friend and neighbor, Jen is an absolute magician of all things related to sewing. The fact that she is highly sought after for dressing actors on the big screen is a testament to this. She also runs Sew Catskills out of her studio in our neighborhood.
The quilt that Jen made for our little guy incorporates both the Catskill Mountains, as well as NYC. It is beyond cool the way that she worked city-scapes into the texture of the craggy mountain peaks. When I snapped these photos, I didn’t intend to have so much backlighting. But I decided to keep these images anyway because it reveals the way that the blocks were joined together. The detail shots above and below illustrate both the city themed fabric print as well as some of the awesome stitching that went into this quilt.
A couple of shots of the quilt back below-
One more photo for good measure. Our little man loves this thing! Thanks Jen!
