Sam's Quilt

Sam's quilt is all finished and ready to be sent off to the adorable new baby boy!  A few days ago I drove to a quilt shop about 30 minutes north of me and quilted it on their longarm- so fun!  But a lot more work than I anticipated.  I never really thought about how you actually get the quilt onto the frame (pinning, it turns out) and I never considered that you would still have to baste it (just the edges and you do it with the longarm, but still never realized you had to do it).  I quilted it using a pattern- I had planned to custom quilt it a la Angela Walters and was all prepared with the sketches but when I showed the girl at the shop she - in a nice, round about way - told me I was a bit ambitious with that for my first go.  I realized she was probably right and decided to use a pattern.  It was also a more open design and therefore probably softer than my custom quilting would have been.  Better for baby.

I thought it might be easier for you to see the quilting on the back, but it looks like it isn't really coming across in the photo.  Sorry.  For anyone who saw my first post about this quilt, yes, the backing is slightly different.  I took out the dark green elephant print that was the vertical stripe and replaced it with this lighter print.  I figured it would hide any messy quilting stitches better than the dark fabric (especially with the light thread color).

Another "first" accomplished on this quilt was my first quilt label- also way more work than I expected.  I played around with different wording for the label, then different colors, different fonts, different stabilizers...  Finally I had the label and had to figure out how to attach it.  I managed to sew WonderUnder onto the front, put a slit in it and turn the label but it took a few tries.  Fyi, WonderUnder tears very easy it turns out.  Once I had it ironed on I wanted a cleaner edge so I grabbed some embroidery floss and attempted my first blanket stitch. 

My final "first" on this quilt- giving it away!  I have never given a quilt to anyone outside my family before (and by "give" I mean my mom is the only one who has ever taken one of my quilts from me).  Usually I am very protective and I want to keep the stuff I make- only child syndrome aka "its mine and you can't have it".  But I am SO excited to send this off to Angie and baby Sam!! Angie appreciates handmade items so it definitely helps to know that it will be so used and loved in her home. 

Baby Sewing!

No, not for me!  My friend Angie will be having a little boy - Samuel - in the coming weeks!  She is a big fan of homemade gifts, which works out perfectly for me.  I already sent her some bibs and burp cloths when she first found out she was expecting but now that it is getting close it is time to up the ante.

May I present, Sam's quilt (or more accurately at this point, Sam's quilt top)-

I purchased some Karma Baby by Mint Blossom for Northcott Fabrics probably close to a year ago and am SO happy that I finally have the perfect thing to use it for!  I have never given away a quilt before (a blanket, but not a quilt) and am soooo excited to get this one finished and sent off to Angie and Sam!  I know it will be appreciated and that makes parting with it easy (normally I hoard the things I make).

The back is pieced using extra yardage that I had.  I have a tendency to find fabrics that I like and buy them with no real thought in mind to what pattern I will use them for.  So instead I just randomly choose yardage amounts based on how much I like the fabric instead of how I will use it.  Thank goodness it worked in my favor this time (just barely, but still counting it as a win- tiny scraps of the paisley and the green elephants which I will discuss later). 

My plan it to take this up to a Gammil dealer in the coming weeks and quilt it on a longarm- so excited!  I have been toying with the idea of purchasing one, even though I have never actually quilted anything more than some practice stitches at a quilt show on one.  I am a total Angela Walters groupie though (quiltingismytherapy.com) and have both her books and desperately want to learn to quilt like she does.  I have done a few pillows using her book as inspiration, but feel so limited by my little machine.  I want a big ol' longarm to play with!

On a different note, check out my creative quilting hanging for pictures system- 

Nails + binder clips! I tried washi tape first- how the heck do people do that?  Maybe it works with quilt blocks since they are smaller but it definitely does not work with whole quilts.  I came up with this system instead.  You do what you have to when you are the only one home and want to take pictures!