Baby Quilt Finished

With all the coughing and sniffling and wheezing going on around here, accomplishing very much in the sewing room has been difficult at best. Yes, we are still trying to recover from our respiratory infections. It's been brutal!

Finally, yesterday, I found myself sufficiently fortified to quilt the woodsy baby quilt that DD Emma and I made two weeks ago. She needs it for the baby shower tomorrow, so I was running out of time.

In anticipation of Thursday's being a good day for sewing, on Wednesday evening I prepped the quilt sandwich. Since it is small-ish at 44" square, I opted to spray baste the layers. It worked pretty well, but I wouldn't go much bigger, I think. Just too much wrestling of fabric, in my opinion. Using a flannel for the backing is a good idea for a baby quilt, but this plaid offered a new challenge - keeping the lines straight. I took my time and did a pretty decent job. I think for future reference, I will use a solid if I am quilting it at home, or I will long-arm quilt it if using a plaid.

My plan originally was to just straight-line stitch in one direction all across the quilt. However, after we went to the trouble of haphazardly arranging the blocks so that there is no definite up and down, I thought simply outlining the blocks should be the better way to go.  I am glad I made this decision, and I finished the quilting in a few hours.

After a little break to rest achy shoulders, I attached the binding and stitched it down. It turned out pretty well, all in all, and I am pleased with it. I was worried that I would be embarrassed to send it off with Emma, for everyone to think my workmanship was shoddy. It passes my quality control standards, so off it goes. *grin*  Oh, it has its imperfections, to be sure, but not so glaring that anyone would be dissatisfied.

Yes, I even remembered to add the label. Emma wanted to leave it blank for the new parents to write the baby's name, birth date, and weight after he arrives.

In with the gift, she plans to include a box of color-catchers for laundering. I think that several of the fabrics in this quilt have the potential for running.

I do believe that DH and I have finally turned the corner on our sicknesses; hopefully this is all for us for the remainder of the fall and winter, and then some!

Linking up today with Finish It Up Friday. She has an interesting string quilt to share; check it out!

Happy Quilting, Friends!