Another day, another baby quilt. I actually finished both of these quilts on Saturday (never mind that my labels say September... at least it was close). I was able to deliver this one to a sweet baby girl yesterday. And her 4-year-old big brother received Zoom Zoom. Yay for quilt gifts!
Baby Girl has a room decorated in coral, salmon, mint and aqua, with grey accents. That meant shopping for fabric, since these are not colors in my stash (except the aqua, I suppose). I think the backing fabric is perfect and I was happy with what I found to accompany it, though I found the task a bit of a challenge. The background fabric on the front is a digitally printed fabric from Hawthorne Threads. They produce a wide variety of prints in many one-color options. Once I realized they had the right mint green, choosing the hummingbirds was easy. Baby Girl's parents' wedding featured a hummingbird motif, so I knew it was just the right print.
I designed the quilt before I decided on the fabrics. Initially my grey areas were pieced from two rectangles, but when I decided on a two-way directional print for those sections I redesigned it to be pieced from squares in alternating directions.
I chose to quilt with walking foot quilting. I'd planned free motion quilting for every other project at the top of my "to be quilted" list, so I thought I'd change it up with this one. I began by marking a line at a 60 degree angle with blue tape for my first line of quilting. Then I used the guide on my walking foot to make parallel lines with 1 1/2" spacing. I initially planned a second pass in the opposite 60 degree angle to make crosshatch quilting, but I ended up holding after the first pass. Sometimes done is better than perfect... or less detailed, in this case, is better than twice the quilting time. ;-)
I'm uncertain why my stitch length is so irregular with walking foot quilting. Perhaps it has to do with my tension. Thoughts?
I cut into my backing fabric to try it as the feature fabric in the center of the front of the quilt. Then I decided to stick with my initial plan of the poppies. That left me with a backing fabric too small to back the entire quilt. :-/ I decided to piece in my label instead of adding a secondary fabric in the backing. (Name and birthdate removed from the photo.)
Then all that was left was to roll it up and wrap it. I hope Baby Girl loves it. I know her mom does. :-) It was so hard to keep this one a secret. I just knew that if I shared even a glimpse, my friend would recognize her color palette and my surprise would be ruined.
Thank you for visiting!
I'm linking up to the Q3 Finish Along finishes party. See all my Q3 WIPs in my goal post.
A pattern is available for my Knock Knock baby quilt pattern (shown above) in one size, 36 1/2" x 36 1/2".
Kate
Congrats on a very cute finish.
sarah
Post authorThank you, Kate!
Paige
I know it will be well loved! So cute!
sarah
Post authorThank you!
Yvonne @Quilting Jetgirl
I usually reduce the pressure on my walking foot when I quilt, which means I have to be very careful about how I feed the quilt through the machine to maintain even stitches. If a pin gets caught on the edge of a table or the quilt "drags" it will quickly shorten the stitch length. I don't know if any of that might help you diagnose what is causing your stitch irregularity; it's just what I have noted for myself.
What a sweet quilt and gift and I bet both quilts are going to be loved and used for years!
sarah
Post authorThanks, Yvonne. I don't think I had much drag with such a small project, but I'll have to pay attention to that next time I get out the walking foot. :-)
Cathy
Beautiful!
sarah
Post authorThank you, Cathy!
Mary
I love this baby quilt. Of course the colors are totally me! I need some of that grey fabric :) That poppy fabric is yummy too!
sarah
Post authorThank you, Mary. It's a very pretty palette. If I can find the selvage I'll email you fabric info for those two. :-)
Allison
Lovely quilt. The quilting in one direction is plenty. I had the same thoughts as Yvonne re. the variable stitch length.
sarah
Post authorThanks, Allison. You are correct about the quilting. And nobody would even miss the potential crosshatch quilting if I'd just quit telling people that was the plan. ;-)
Anja @ Anja Quilts
Great design. That's an awesome poppy print.
sarah
Post authorThank you, Anja! It was inspired by... a door. Inspiration is everywhere. ;-)
Leanne
It's a lovely quilt, perfect for a new baby! Thank you for participating in the FAL, on behalf of the 2016 global FAL hosts.
sarah
Post authorThank you, Leanne!
Sarah Elliott
Love this color combo and your linear quilting. Thanks for linking up to TGIFF!
sarah
Post authorThank you, Sarah!