Quilt Story

Here is the quilt for my expected granddaughter, from fabrics to finish. I started cutting on Feb. 14, so it took me only two weeks. It would've been more relaxing to have a little longer to work on it. The fabrics above are what I picked out at first. To the left is a paper with fabrics d#1 used for curtains and some other items she likes for the nursery.

I made all the nine-patches with blue centers. There were not enough fabrics in the first batch, but I added a couple I already had, and found the wonderful tree print and the numbers on green grass which I couldn't resist. I was afraid to cut the nine-patches but I knew this is not how I wanted it to look.

After splitting the nine-patches I tried out a couple different border plans, but settled on just the tree print. Then I sewed them by rows; had to unsew one row because I put it on backwards.

Then I laid it out and pinned and started quilting. I used a fleece batting instead of the low-loft as on drh's quilt. It was awful. The quilting didn't look like I expected and the backing sort of stuck and stretched or something icky, and it was heavy! I tried the next row and it got worse. So then I spent about 3 hours picking out stitches, relaid out on different batting and pinned again! That pinning was hard as the pins are so stiff, and gave me a sore wrist for a few days.

Since the first quilting plan of a back and forth curving line didn't work, I decided to stitch blocks in the ditch and then do spirals - it worked on the previous quilt and I liked it, so why not stick with a successful method? While I was quilting, I enjoyed the fabrics so much and really fell in love with the green with tiny butterflies that you see in the lower left corner above.

This is the back and some quilting on the border at the corner. I quilted the border with a looping line, some larger and some smaller loops. The looping turned out very well - much better than stippling which I haven't practiced much. The only thing I wish turned out better is the tension on the back. It was rather lumpy looking but my sis suggested ironing it after I was done with the binding, so I did. YAY. It was wonderful! I was so happy to give it to d#1 for her baby shower. I liked it and now I miss it, but I'm sure I'll see it again.