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Colour Blocks Baby Quilt Completed


Well on Thursday evening, other then removing the marking lines, the quilt was finished. My sigh of relief must have been heard in Hawaii.


Even though the quilt came together rather easily and quickly, there were a few hiccups along the way. First of all, I must confess that I broke down and bought some new fabric for the backing.

After a sleepless night last Friday thinking about the pieced backing that I had just finished basting onto the quilt, I got up Saturday morning realizing that this backing just wasn't working for me. So, contrary to my initial intent of only use stash fabrics, I had to give in and head to the nearest quilt shop for new backing fabric.

Alternative backing fabric was purchased on Saturday and by late Sunday afternoon, the original backing had been removed, the new fabric had been pre-washed and prepped, and the quilt was sandwiched and basted. Still on schedule.

I find that basting on a clean floor is still the best way to get the quilt sandwich tension even and taught.

Early Monday morning, I was rolling down the Bernina highway, stitching happily to Christmas tunes. (This year's favourite Christmas tunes are the instrumental jazz play lists found on YouTube. There's a lot of variety available and the longer playlists don't require a CD change.)

By Tuesday evening, the grid was well established and the free motion butterfly was completed. The butterfly is my husband's creation, so I only had to stitch it into existance.

Progress report on Tuesday evening.

Wednesday late afternoon, all of the the quilting had been completed. The only thing left to do on Thursday and Friday was stitching the binding into place and cleaning up the marking lines.

Close-up of the free motion butterfly.

The final step was attaching the binding, for which I used the backing fabric. Because of a primarily white binding on a white quilt top, I added a little accent and contrast to the front of the quilt, with a narrow red trim stitched into the binding.

Close-up of the binding and trim.

So wrapped and packaged, the quilt has been sent on it's merry way and the Bernina has been carefully parked until sometime in early January.

Comments

  1. Kitchener QuilterDecember 15, 2013 at 2:15 PM

    Love your grid quilting, and your butterfly, and your skinny red trim, too. Very nice quilt. Happy baby, I am sure!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seams FrenchDecember 16, 2013 at 7:33 PM

      Hi Kitchener Quilter. Thanks so much for stopping by. I think that sometimes keeping it simple is the way to go. I sure hope that baby sleeps sweetly under the quilt.

      Delete
  2. Cynthia GilbrethDecember 16, 2013 at 7:42 PM

    What an unusual and darling quilt! I love the butterfly, your free motion quilting is excellent.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seams FrenchDecember 17, 2013 at 7:48 PM

      Hi Cynthia. The idea for this quilt (or a variation there-of) has been floating around in the back of my brain for a while. Since the design is fairly simple, it was a good choice for this project where time was of essence. I appreciate your comments. Thanks for stopping by.

      Delete
  3. AnonymousDecember 17, 2013 at 4:19 PM

    Wow...what a beautiful quilt! You are a wonderful artist; that butterfly is lovely. What a nice idea for a baby quilt. I like the modern look...so many young mother's enjoy modern things today. Congratulations on a super finish!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seams FrenchDecember 17, 2013 at 7:53 PM

      Hi Averyclaire. "Modern" quilts are really not within my comfort zone, although I always like them when I see others and would like to feel more confident with them. I guess the only way to get that confidence is to play with the concept, so that's what I'm doing. I'm glad that you think this quilt worked. Thanks so much.

      Delete
  4. Marla's CraftsDecember 18, 2013 at 3:28 AM

    That is so pretty. What beautiful quilting. Such a simple quilting pattern but the quilting makes the quilt.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seams FrenchDecember 18, 2013 at 4:16 PM

      Hi Marla. Thanks so much for your comments and for stopping by. My favourite quilts to make are whole cloth FMQ, so simple piecing works for me.

      Delete
  5. Marjorie's Busy CornerDecember 18, 2013 at 5:31 AM

    Love the bright colors and that gorgeous butterfly you quilted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seams FrenchDecember 18, 2013 at 4:19 PM

      Hi Marjorie. I like bright colours against a white background for children's quilts. It makes me feel happy. Thanks for your comments.

      Delete
  6. sherryDecember 18, 2013 at 5:48 AM

    i love the quilting in the butterfly...nicely done

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seams FrenchDecember 18, 2013 at 4:19 PM

      Hi Sherry. I very much appreciate your stopping by and your comments. Thank you.

      Delete
  7. SamDecember 19, 2013 at 8:22 AM

    Fantastic job, love the butterfly. This quilt is a fabulous finish.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Seams FrenchDecember 19, 2013 at 3:05 PM

    Thank you Sam. The butterfly is a collaberation between my husband and myself.

    ReplyDelete
  9. MonicaDecember 29, 2013 at 12:24 PM

    Wow, it looks amazing! The modern design is the perfect showcase for that butterfly. Congratulations, and I hope your holiday is going well!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seams FrenchDecember 31, 2013 at 5:20 PM

      Hi Monica. All is well here on the west coast. I hope that life is returning to normal in your area of the world after those terrible storms you had. I hope that you had a lovely Christmas, despite the weather.

      Thanks for your comments on the quilt as well. After all of the hand work that I have done recently, anything done on the machine does whip up quickly in comparison. I do love machine quilting and I had a lot of fun with it.

      Delete

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