Maybe I Should Just Make Baby Quilts All the Time

I had to laugh the other day while reading Julie's post. It must be a good time of year for planners and organizers to fall off the wagon en masse! My youngest brother and his wife recently had a little baby girl. And uh... well.., the rest of the story {understandably if you're a quilter}, writes itself.

Starting something new

That only-making-one-baby-quilt per-sibling, {no matter how many children they have} is crumbling quite badly these days. Once glimpse at the latest, but sweetest, niece or nephew and I'm diving head first into the fabric totes, potential fabric flying everywhere. This time I settled on a piece of striped fabric that I bought on a whim a couple years ago. Something about the colors and print resonated very strongly with my impressions of the new mamas tastes.

Potential applique 

Not wanting to make things too complicated, but needing to expand the yard of fabric out to a better baby quilt size, I made a simple, but scrappy flying geese unit. It took a little bit of contemplation to figure out the best place to cut into the stripes and insert the flying geese. Yes! Love that subtle bit of dark pink framing the geese. And wallah! The quilt top is done!

Then, while I was trying to determine where to cut the edge of quilt, {at the gold strip or at the gray?}, I made up my mind that the quilt absolutely had to have a bit of applique. Huh? I thought it was DONE? Out came the applique parts and pieces totes and this is where I really put my foot down. Okay self! Any applique added to this quilt is going to have to be orphaned bits and that's that! Like it would matter one whit if I snipped off some little bits of the stash fabric here and there! Full disclosure for those that are wondering: I am such a weirdo about arbitrary challenges to myself. I get it! Totally recognize the randomness in how/where/when they insert themselves into the quilting journey. In my defense tho, I feel that they sort of liven up the process and give opportunity for unexpected, but fun results. Probably why I continue to gleefully make and attempt to follow through with them...

Two or three flowers? It's so hard not to keep adding....

This time it worked out beautifully. Who knew these pretty bits would shine so brightly on this particular quilt? And so finally, finally the quilt and I were in perfect agreement that it was time to move on. Simple straight line quilting  and then afterwards, some strategic echo quilting with perle cotton. Would more could it ask for?

Ready for machine quilting

The gray and white backing fabric was bought on clearance awhile back for a potential quilt back. Now it's approximately a baby quilt size short for the intended project, but we'll worry about that later!

And it's done!

There was only a fat quarter available of the pretty, pink polka dot on black fabric used for binding. Oh well. Can't have everything fall into place the way we want! I decided to be bold and went to the opposite end of the spectrum, using a light pink for the rest. It washed up very well, with a soft, drapey feel that was a little unexpected but still felt marvelous. I think mama was genuinely happy with her gift, which always feels good. Four days from start to finish! Why can't all quilts be this easy?*wink

Loving the addition of some Perle Cotton stitching

That fast and easy feeling is a bit addictive though, so next up was playing with these abandoned cut-off triangles. I loved the idea of them fading in and out of a similar color background.

The patchwork triangles starting to come together

 And then got all excited about using this sharp, citrusy yellow fabric in long vertical rows.

Hmm...  Is it too stark?

I had just enough of that mermaid green solid to make smaller strips through the yellow, but now I'm wondering if it should have been cut more narrow? The entire color scheme is a bit of a departure for me, but you might recognize the triangle fabrics from this Improv. Wheels quilt.

Such a simple, straightforward layout....

I've been dragging that quilt top out, contemplating whether or not it could/should be the next hand quilting project. Probably why it was so easy to forge ahead on these orphaned triangles. The quilt practically made itself, everything went so smoothly. Well, other than having to precisely cut every single length of fabric and pinning a hundred pins per strip. Okay, maybe only thirty, but it felt like thousands by the time it was all sewn together! I'd say it was done, but honestly, I think it needs a simple red fabric border. Still chewing on that decision.

And yes, I'm putting the Squirrel Club button over on the side of my blog. Total capitulation to what I'm beginning to suspect will be a summer of squirrels.*sigh  Those orphan totes are starting to look very interesting in a arbitrary, challenge-to-myself sort of way....

P.s. Have you read Flossie Teacakes latest post about blogging? She's someone I read in the event EPP suddenly becomes my latest craze, plus she's pretty interesting as most really great quilters are. Some really good points about Instagram scrolling versus settling in for a good chat on a favorite blog!