News: Custom Quilt

“The negative is just as important as the positive.” -Ellsworth Kelly

This was my second wall quilt based on Ellsworth Kelly’s “In and Out of Paris” painting. It was just as fun as the first time and I learned just as much making this piece as the first one. 

The color and white square spacing fascinates me in this modern, handmade quilt. I spent most of my time while piecing the front of this quilt looking for patterns and exploring how the white squares balanced all of the bright, bold color squares.

Each time I make this quilt, I’m hyper focused on the slightly different shades of each color used. It doesn’t translate 100% perfectly into the color options available in fabric, but I think we got pretty close.

The front and back of this quilt are 100% cotton. I created a hanging sleeve for the back so this quilt could also be used as a wall quilt. While making the sleeve, I became inspired to explore other ways to hang quilts. There are so many creative options, but I’d really love to create a modern, minimalist quilt hanger for my clients. Working on a few prototypes now and hope to have them available soon.

If you’re following on social media or are signed up for the newsletter, then you’ve seen the suggested order-by dates for the holidays. But if you haven’t seen them yet, then you still have some time to order a Casey Sheila Quilts in time for Christmas! Order quilts by November 7, order pillows by November 28, and bibs by December 5. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions at casey@caseysheilaquilts.com. 

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!

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.

I received a request for a custom quilt for the sweetest little boy. He was transitioning from his crib to a big boy bed! His parents are big Space X fans. When they request a rocket ship quilt, I knew I had to design a quilt around the Falcon Heavy rocket. 

Around the same time that I designed this modern quilt, Space X was getting ready to launch three astronauts into space: Crew-2! (Hi, female astronaut Megan MacArthur! You’ve got big fans here at Casey Sheila Quilts). 

Although designing a quilt is certainly not the same as designing a rocket, there was quite a bit of math for this full size space quilt. 

Handmade quilts are all about the details. I loved the little NASA astronaut fabric so we added a few pieces of that fabric onto the rocket. I machine stitched the child's name. And I made sure we had some fire power to blast the rocket ship to the international space station. I can’t wait to see all the adventures and fun dreams that this boy has with this quilt. 

Space fabric with deep blues and star constellations were a natural choice for the back of the quilt. We used dark blue thread to quilt all three layers together. 

As with all of my quilts, I hand stitched the binding. I make sure that all of my products are machine washable. Momma has enough on her plate and kid’s bedding is sure to get messy (potty training, I see you). Currently accepting custom quilt orders, send an email to casey@caseysheilaquilts.com to get started designing your dream quilt today. 

Godspeed, Crew-2.

First finished custom quilt of 2021! This beautiful, inspiring momma-to-be reached out about creating a custom quilt. She and her husband first moved to Miami when he matched at a local hospital. When they first got to Miami, they lived in an apartment overlooking the river. Every morning she started her day with a cup of coffee and watching the sea life in the river. Her favorite memory was watching a momma and baby manatee swim by. They moved so majestically despite their size and the small width of the river.

And yep, we found a fabric with a momma and baby manatee. It was meant to be the back of baby's quilt. Momma didn't know baby's gender so we went with gender neutral colors. Honestly, it was easy to piece the colors because the ocean and sea life colors are gorgeous, deep blues, yellows, teals, whites, and creams. Perfect for a gender neutral baby quilt.

We went with the toddler size (40" x 50") so it would be big enough for baby to enjoy for years to come. She chose the Everything Quilt design. This is one of my favorites because it has a little bit of everything. Cotton and linen, and so many different patterned fabrics. In addition to the manatees, the quilt has gold foliage, herons, seagulls, waves, and suns.

Creating this quilt brought me so much joy. Can't wait to see baby and family using and loving it. Still accepting custom orders for 2021, send an email to casey@caseysheilaquilts.com to start planning handmade baby quilt today.

Isn’t it funny how when one of your senses are triggered, it can bring you right back to a specific moment in time. A specific feeling. A specific emotion.

When I was born, my grandfather brought this huge stuffed panda bear for me to the hospital (My enneagram 5 wing cringes at the thought of the impracticality of transporting that bear home). Over 30 years later, I am proud to say that bear still sits tall in my bedroom. And every day, one of my senses trigger a happy, comforting memory of my childhood with him. 

Sometimes I get a big whiff of Big Panda when I bend over to pick up the dirty laundry that’s stacked up next to him on the floor. When I do, I remember sitting next to him with my childhood dog and reading books. I loved sitting up against him to read. He was sturdy and soft- a delicate balance. My miniature dachshund would sleep in my lap as we got lost in the pages. 

Each time I touch Big Panda’s thick arm to move him or give him a little pat, I think about how I’ve brought him every where I’ve lived including my college dorm room. Even though he takes up a surprising amount of space, he has always been an essential. He probably knows me better than I know myself. 

Although I don’t have any actual taste memories of Big Panda, I’m sure I drooled all over that guy as a baby. 

Every time I hear Dylan fall on top of Big Panda, I smile to myself thinking of how I used to run at Big Panda full speed in my carpeted bedroom and launch into him. We’d roll over on top of each other and I’d burst into a fit of giggles. He was such a kind playmate. 

And whenever I see Big Panda, I’m reminded of how he’s provided me comfort throughout the years. It feels like a big bear hug just thinking about it. One day I’ll pass him on to my kids and their grandkids, and he’ll continue the tradition for them. 

If one bear who is relatively immobile and just hangs out in my room can provide all of that, can you imagine what a child’s quilt can do? Fort builder, reading side kick, good dream catcher, all around protector- a source of comfort and love. Can you imagine unpacking your child’s quilt after years of being tucked away so they can regift it to their new babies? What a treasure. Both Alice and Dylan have custom versions of the Everything Quilt. I can’t wait to see the memories that smelling their quilts 30 years from now sparks for them. Custom quilts are open for 2021, send an email to casey@caseysheilaquilts.com to get started planning today.