It’s a mini baby boom in my world (none of them are mine, and let’s all be grateful for that). And, naturally, new babies need new quilts!

Here’s the first, for sweet Lincoln born in mid-December, a first baby for one of the groomsmen from our wedding. When I started to plan it, before he was born, I had to go gender-neutral since they weren’t going to find out what they were having. But pale greens and yellows just aren’t my cup of tea. And I had this lovely stack of rainbow charms that I had gotten from a swap at Sewing Summit. I thought it would be fun to do a zig-zag rainbow. (Or are we not saying zig-zag anymore? Just chevron? Sounds fancier that way.)

I actually had to laugh to myself, because it reminded me of a conversation I once had with a couple of crafty friends. We were talking about sewing for babies, and especially about designing quilts for baby boys. And someone came up with the greatest question to determine how adventurous you could be with the colors: how heteronormative are the parents? I’m not talking about whether they’re straight or not. I just find that some people, as parents, tend towards the more traditionally gendered colors than others, regardless of whether the parents themselves are straight or otherwise. Anyways, knowing this particular couple, I didn’t think anyone would feel threatened by a little color.

And to me, this is actually a really gender-neutral rainbow. Leaving out the purple makes it a little less feminine, and the gray background feels kind of urban and modern to me (this family lives in Brooklyn). And then the binding choice would let me tip it in one direction or another – in this case, a deep blue Lizzy House print.

The quilting is fairly dense, which meant it took a lot longer than I thought it should for such a small quilt. It also, unfortunately, made it not want to lie flat any more. But in addition to looking really cool, it gives the quilt some amazing texture. When I got to the gray, I gradually spaced out the lines to soften it up.

And because I used different color threads in each section of the rainbow, you get a little echo of it on the back of the quilt. The back, for once, is a single piece of a single fabric! Can you believe it, a non-pieced back?! It was refreshing.

If I was going to make this quilt again, the one thing I’d do differently is to make sure the blues were a more consistent hue/value. The fabrics I got in the swap were pretty varied, and some of them were a little too light and/or green-ish, so there isn’t as clear a contrast as I would have liked between the green and the blue. Regardless, though, I am happy with how this quilt turned out, and I hope it gets plenty of use in its new home!