A Quilt for Lauren

I recently finished up a quilt for my niece. Actually, it's been finished since the baby shower back in April but I've been working on embroidering the quilt tag since she was born in July. It was touch and go at times, I would get tired or frustrated and have to put it away for a bit, but it turned out so well. I'm so happy, even if it did mean using my seam ripper a few times. :) I finished it up last week and gave it to her on my birthday. Who says you can't give gifts on your birthday? :)

The fabrics are a huge mix of designers and prints. They came from both my sister-in-law and myself, and the colors coordinate with the nursery perfectly. Her nursery colors are aqua, coral, and grey with a little yellow, green and pink thrown in.

My inspiration | source

It took while to find the right quilt pattern. I was considering doing a chevron pattern because the nursery has chevrons in it but I wanted something simple. Wasn't too keen on dealing with triangles and all that. ;) So when I saw this baby quilt from Red Pepper Quilts (above) I had my eureka moment. I particularly loved the quilting she did, it just made the whole thing.

I decided to copy that design but omit the solids simply because I love a patchwork quilt. You'll notice that I fussy cut a few rectangles featuring little girls. I got a fat quarter each of Posy by Aneela Hoey and Children at Play by Sarah Jane. I just loved the little girls and I wanted to include a few of the scenes.

I backed it with a soft green flannel that I got from Joann's. I definitely wanted a solid back to highlight the quilting and I thought flannel was a nice soft material for little toes and fingers. I used one layer of cotton batting because we live in the desert and I didn't want it to be too warm. The binding fabric also came from Joann's, can't remember the designer but it's in their premium quilting cotton section. I just love all the colors in this plaid, brings it all together nicely.

I have a secret to share with you, I didn't quilt it in one continuous line. I know I know, but let me explain. I must have started and ripped out 3-4 tries before I had to give up and walk away for a bit. Try as I might (even with guides and marks on the fabric) I could not get the corners to line up nicely in the quilting. So I cheated. I sewed all the vertical lines first, tied them off and buried the tails. Then I sewed all the horizontal lines, tied them off and buried the tails. The result? Near perfect corners every time.  I actually planned on mimicking the quilting from Red Pepper but I was so fed up with it by the time I finished that I left it as is. I think the simpler quilting worked out well.

When it came time to machine sew on the binding I had trouble again. I could not get a nice looking straight stitch to save me. So I switched to a decorative stitch and used my walking foot. Turned out great!

I was able to get at least one good photo of this sweet girl on the quilt. She's quite the wiggler! You can see the quilting a bit better too. Hard to believe she's already over 3 months old, time sure flies! :)

This quilt has been entered into the baby quilt category at Blogger's Quilt Festival.