Laura Plimpton died just over a year ago, and her daughter conceived a few months later. Laura’s son, Chris, contacted me to ask about having a baby quilt made out of his mom’s clothes for his sister’s unborn baby – it seemed like such a lovely gift for a baby who would never be able to meet his grandmother.

Chris and his dad put together a collection of Laura’s clothes and shipped them out to me.

There were some really wonderful garments in the mix from textured blazers to a colorful Japanese kimono that she had purchased on a previous trip to Japan.

We decided that my Lucky Penny quilt pattern would be just the right design for this baby. I began carefully dismantling the garments

and cutting out the ground blocks and the circle blocks.

There were so many options as to how to combine all of the fabrics into a layout that flowed across all the colors and textures.

After much rearranging and playing with which circles went best with which blocks, I landed on the final design

and began appliquéing the circles to the blocks.

Next came the border, after the blocks were sewn to one another.

Then the quilting, done by the talented, Nancy Stovall of Just Quilting.

The final quilt was finished and shipped back to Chris for a special unveiling with his sister and baby a couple of weeks later.

I have a wonderful image of this new baby being wrapped up and comforted by the very same fabrics that warmed his grandmother. It is a lovely way to reach across the divide of loss and renewal.