News: Baby quilt

So far in the Custom Quilt Series, we’ve shared the basics of creating a custom Casey Sheila Quilt. We’ve also taken an in-depth look at customizing both the Raindance Quilt and the  Ombré Quilt. This week is all about customizing the Everything Quilt.

The Everything Quilt is a fun, detail-oriented way of packing a little bit of everything into a modern baby quilt. Lots of patterned, coordinating fabrics with geese flying in vertical directions. As with all of our custom quilts, this quilt is a feast for baby’s visual stimulation and provides a soft place for tummy time. Because there is a lot of anticipated spit up and drool in tummy time, this quilt is also machine washable.

Once baby is old enough, the quilt can be used for naps and night time sleep. My four year old still comfortably snuggles with her baby sized quilt (40” x 40”) and the toddler sized quilt (40” x 50”) would last even longer. Once they are ready for a bigger size, you can tuck this quilt away for your baby to give your grandchildren one day. Quilts are for life. 

To customize your own Everything Quilt, we start off discussing a theme or color palette for the quilt. Maybe baby boy’s nursery is polar bear themed and so we start off looking for coordinating colors and fabrics. Or maybe you just moved to South Florida and you spent your pregnancy walking along the Miami River with the manatees swimming alongside you. We would then look for fabrics that fit that theme. Because the quilt is custom, the theme is anything you dream up! I am here to help you make those ideas a reality. 

After we discuss a theme/color palette, I’ll send you a mock-up. Once approved, I will order the fabrics. Custom quilts generally take between 4-8 weeks to create. I will literally wrap your dreamy quilt with a bow and mail it off as soon as it’s done. I can’t wait to work with you. Please send me an email at casey@caseysheilaquilts.com to start designing a forever quilt for the baby in your life. 

Two weeks ago, we shared the basics of creating a custom Casey Sheila Quilt. Last week, we took an in-depth look at customizing the Raindance Quilt. This week is all about the Ombré Quilt.

The Ombré Quilt is a sleek and modern baby quilt. Bright, bold colors in a striking pattern. The bright colors can provide a stimulating visual for baby to behold (in addition to being a soft, safe place for tummy time and snuggles). But, the pattern can also be toned down with a softer color palette. I’d love to make this quilt in a soft, peach color palette (let me know if you’re my person). 

Like each of the other custom quilts, there are two steps to creating the Ombré Quilt and you can decide on them in any order. One, select a color palette. Two, select a fabric for the backing. The inspiration for the colors and fabric backing can come from anywhere. What’s your favorite nursery book? 

I was inspired by Winnie-the-Pooh when I made this Ombré Quilt. How sweet are those honey bears for the back? And a bold color punch with red, orange, yellows, white, and cream for the color palette on the front. 

This Ombré Quilt was customized for a baby girl based on the Party Babies Bib Set. The balloon animals are a fan favorite and clearly one of my personal favorites. We can of course discuss customizing a quilt based on any of our modern baby bib sets. 

Once we discuss the color palette and/or themes, I will send a proposal with a mock-up of the quilt. Once the quilt design is finalized, I can send you the invoice and order fabrics. I can start as soon as the fabrics arrive! The process is about 4-8 weeks, depending on how long the design process takes. 

Send me an email at casey@caseysheilaquilts.com to start designing an Ombré Quilt for the baby in your life.

Last week, we shared the basics of creating a custom, modern baby quilt. This blog post goes more into detail for Option 1: Customize a Design- the Raindance Quilt version. We have four modern quilt designs that can be customized for any size quilt: (1) Raindance Quilt; (2) Everything Quilt; (3) Ombre Quilt; and (4) Nostalgia Quilt. 

The Raindance Quilt is a bold, modern quilt sparked with color. Full of equilateral triangles and alternating patterns, this quilt makes any corner of the room pop. This was the first quilt design I created. I’ve made several improvements to the design since then and love where it’s at now. 

There are two steps to creating a Raindance Quilt and you can decide on them in any order. You choose five colors for the front and a fabric for the back. The inspiration for the colors and fabric backing can come from anywhere. Is the recipient a rainbow baby? Maybe you’d like a rainbow fabric with coordinating colors on the front. 

Is the nursery themed? Maybe you want a complementary fabric to go with the theme (Mermaid theme, anyone?). We can find 5 matching colors for the front based on that. 

Or maybe you have a color palette in mind? We can choose the five colors based on the palette and then find a fabric to match! 

Once we discuss colors and/or themes, I will send a proposal with a mock-up of the quilt. When the quilt design is finalized, I will email you the invoice and order fabrics. I can start as soon as the fabrics arrive :) The process is about 4-8 weeks, depending on how long the design process takes. 

Send me an email at casey@caseysheilaquilts.com to start designing your Raindance Quilt. I’m so excited to work with you. 

One of the questions I’m most frequently asked is how to purchase a custom quilt? I get it! It’s confusing. I decided to start a blog series to explain it (until I figure out a better way to organize it on the website). To order a custom handmade baby quilt, there are two options: (1) customize a design; or (2) create a fully custom quilt. 

The first option is to customize an established design. I have four gorgeous, fun designs to choose from: (1) Raindance Quilt; (2) Nostalgia Quilt; (3) Everything Quilt; and (4) Ombre Quilt. Each page has a little more detail about the different designs, but basically you choose the colors and the backing! After you choose the colors, I will create a mock-up of the quilt and send it to you for approval. Once approved, I order the fabric and get started as soon as the fabrics arrive. I do prewash all of the fabrics so you shouldn’t have to worry about color bleeding on your first wash. Parents have enough to worry about. 

The second option is to start from scratch and completely create your own design. Sometimes, that means requesting a rocket ship quilt for your toddler’s new bed. Maybe you saw some fabrics that you’re dying to have included and none of my existing designs are quite right for them. Or maybe you want something to represent your family at this moment in time, but don’t really know where to go from there. Whatever the source of inspiration, I got you. I will create a few mock-up designs and send to you for comments and tweaking. Once you decide on the design that feels right, I’ll order the fabric and get started as soon as it arrives. 

The fully custom design is more expensive than customizing an established design for what is a pretty obvious reason: it’s a lot more time consuming. We have to create a brand new design and I get to do a lot more math. It’s rewarding and I love it, but the math has already been done on the establish designs. With either option, you can choose any size- baby, toddler, twin, full or even something larger. It’s custom for your needs and I’m thrilled to make that happen for you.

Whichever option you choose, your Casey Sheila Quilts heirloom is sure to delight. And please share photos! I live to see your quilts in use. Part 2 of creating a custom quilt is going to focus on customizing the Raindance Quilt. Coming next week!

I got to make an Ombré Quilt recently in the red, yellow, and white color way. It’s honestly one of my favorites. The colors are happy and warm. They remind me of the warm sunshine on a fun day at the park with kids. 

I used a very soft, cream for the background color to balance out the rich, warm colors. I love how these colors play together. 

I used a deep orange with fun, metallic sparkles to bind the quilt together. It brings together the colors on the front with the pops of orange and red on the back. Because of course the back has the classic honey bear fabric. 

I love this quilt for a Winnie the Pooh themed nursery. It could work for either a girl or boy’s room. I love picturing reading about the adventures of Pooh, Piglet, Christopher Robin, and the rest of the gang snuggled up under this quilt or under a quilt fort. Or maybe your toddler is running around using the quilt as a super hero cape while you read one of the classic short stories. Building memories with warmth and happiness. It is a privilege that a Casey Sheila Quilts gets to be part of these forever moments. I never take that for granted when creating a quilt.

I think this modern baby quilt would look amazing in a purple color way as well. I just so happen to have purple honey bear fabric to match for the back. Let me know if you’re my person for that by emailing me: casey@caseysheilaquilts.com. Likewise, also email me if you have any other color way in mind (there are so many possibilities with the Ombré Quilt)!

It's such a dream getting to design custom modern baby quilts with my clients. This request came in from a very excited aunt-to-be. Her sister-in-law was expecting. A girl! Growing up, this sweet aunt-to-be had a baby quilt. She brought the quilt with her everywhere. So when the time came for a baby gift to give her niece, there was no question. Baby Nina had to have her very own custom baby quilt. 

My client and her brother are from Arizona. Her sister-in-law is from New York. She wanted the quilt to represent the beautiful florals home to each of their home states. We included succulents and cacti (hi, Arizona!) and cherry blossoms (hi, spring time in New York!) on the front with coordinating pinks and greens. 

For the back, we used the most wonderful Liberty of London floral fabric. It has the most adorable birds and small strawberries incorporated into the design. I stitched the front and back together with an elegant pink diamond pattern with pink thread. 

And of course, I bound the quilt with a solid pink fabric. It balances out all the fun, gorgeous patterns. 

Did you notice the embroidered name? Me too. Definitely brings the whole thing together. My client designed the font herself! So cool that an embroidery machine can stitch a font we design ourselves.

This baby girl’s quilt came out to 40” x 40”. The quilt is delicate and strong. Feminine and fun. This quilt will be the first sidekick and companion on all of baby girl’s adventures. Ready for snuggles, tears, fort building, reading time, car rides, superhero capes… basically anything baby girl can dream. 

I’d love to design the perfect childhood companion for the baby in your life. Email me at casey@caseysheilaquilts.com.

Making custom, modern baby quilts for you and your families is such a special part of this job. When I get a request for a custom quilt, I ask a lot of questions to find out more about the quilt’s home. I was to know the nursery theme, baby’s gender, the family, and how you want to feel when you look at this quilt.  

I want my custom quilts to create a sense of comfort and warmth. In the very chaotic days of having small children, the quilt should give you reason to pause. When you pull the quilt fresh out of the dryer and it’s still warm to the touch, you’ll pull it close to you and remember all of the memories that baby is forming with the quilt and all the reasons behind the design and fabric choices in that quilt. 

This gender neutral rainbow baby quilt is no different. I was asked to design this quilt as a gift for a momma having her second baby, but as you can guess- it was not just her second pregnancy. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, early pregnancy loss happens in about 10% of known pregnancies. (Myself, included). I could not have been more touched to create a quilt for her and her family. Something to celebrate the joyous news of her rainbow baby, but also to honor and hold space for the prior pregnancies.

We decided very quickly on the Raindance Quilt for the design. We wanted to use lots of saturated colors. It was so fun to find gender neutral colors that felt bold and warm. Obviously the back needed to be filled with happy, sweet rainbows.

I hand stitched a coordinating fabric for the binding. The dots remind me of confetti and parties- another memory that would give me a reason to smile. Finally, I added a few pops of gold in the corners. 

I hope this quilt brings joy and peace every time the momma grabs it from the dryer. Wishing her, and really, all you mommas, the very best.

Click to design your own: Raindance Quilt. 

A few months after The Wild Things Collection came out, I started dreaming about a new collection and couldn't get Deborah Diesen's Pout-Pout Fish out of my head. It had beautiful colors that would lend themselves nicely to handmade quilt designs. And I loved the story.

I used to read Pout-Pout Fish to my kids when they were both babies barely capable of holding their heads up. I didn't mind reading it almost daily because the story theme really resonated with me. It was this idea that we can choose our perspective during those sleep-deprived days as a milk machine with constant diaper changes (for you and the baby!). We can get lost in all of the hard work that goes into caring for a newborn. We can embrace the dreary-wearies. Or we can choose to embrace the cheery-cheeries. We can choose to embrace the anxiety, the insecurity, and the overwhelming love. You only get to do this once, might as well focus on the silver linings.

I began frantically doodling baby quilt designs and after a few months started to match fabric to those drawings. Three quilts and four pillows later, this collection was born.

The Upside Down Quilt and matching pillow cover is full of soft, gorgeous yellows and oranges. This one is a fan favorite and its easy to see why with those happy suns on the back.

The Moody Purples Quilt and matching pillow cover is meant to match the big emotions of your small kids. I wanted it to feel like you were getting wrapped up in your parents' soft tee-shirts. I used lots of soft, woven cottons that are great for melting into. The back is a heavier woven cotton that gives this quilt great drape over a bed or crib. 

The Happyish Quilt is inspired by the Pout-Pout Fish himself. Bright blues and purples. You can flip it up and turn it around, and it's a whole different pattern 

And last but certainly not least is the Better Days Quilted Pillow. This pillow has a lilac purple backing with a gold zipper. The top is quilted with regal diamond lines and elegant locally, handmade macrame is hand stitched on top. 

The Pout-Pout Fish Collection is designed to embrace your families for generations to come, one moment at a time. We can't wait to see them spark joy in your homes and families. Feel free to reach out with any questions: casey@caseysheilaquilts.com