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Saturday, March 19, 2011

Baby Blanket

A couple weeks ago I gave you a sneak peek of 2 quilts i was working on. You already saw the Tractor Quilt, and here is the second one.
This quilt was made for a very special little girl. My friend of 25 years (yes, do the math-- since we were born) just had her very first baby girl on March 7. When she first told me she was pregnant I was shocked (She had only been married 2 weeks-- who does that?!?!) but then I got pretty excited. I knew i had to get the wheels turning for a special gift for this baby. I really wanted to make a quilt like my grandma used to... but I didn't know if I wanted to make one JUST like grandma made hers... 
Right about that time I stumbled across THIS tutorial and also THIS one showing the same technique for how t make a faux chenille effect... i was intrigued. So I decided to try it. I asked my friend what kinds of colors she was going with and she said green... Uh... for her baby girl? I didn't want green. But I went on a search for something girly with green... sigh.

Then when shopping with a friend I found this GORGEOUS Alexander Henry Fabric (2D Zoo in Nude) and fell in love... the peachy pink animals and pretty celery and mint green colors... I'm in. The more I worked with the fabric the more I loved it. Those little animals just kill me! So charming.

Anyway, I chose a peachy pink, white, and green flannel for the back, and went to work quilting. Not particularly hard, but time consuming. If I had a walking foot it would have been easier working with 4 layers of fabric. I spread it out over a couple of days, but it took me about 4 hrs to do all the quilting.

Then I start cutting (and I didn't take any pics of this part of the process, sorry...) also not really hard, but time consuming. If I had purchased one of THESE it could have gone much faster. After the cutting I trimmed the edges and put it in the washer. This is after just one wash it frayed quite a bit and was nice and fluffy and textury. I hear it only gets softer the more you wash it... which only means good things for baby S.
I bound the blanket with white satin binding... nice a simple, and I was pretty darn proud of the mitered corners... those things are just a beast for me.

I am very happy with the way it turned out. I took it to see my friend and Baby S in the hospital the day after she was born and Mama and baby approved. :) It really was a lovely quilt. I had fun making it too. I think there will be more.

Actually, my mom just loved it. When she saw it she gasped and said-- when I finally get grand babies someday (she gives me a stern look) you are going to make one of these for me too, right?
Wait-- I have to supply the grandchild and the blanket? That hardly seems fair.

1 comment:

  1. That blanket turned out gorgeous. I've been wanting to try it, but not ready to make the time commitment. Your corners are amazing, my last go-round with satin binding ended ugly.

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