Wednesday 4 June 2014

Super Simple Baby Quilt 5

One of the things on my to-do list for May was finishing a snuggly baby quilt for the wee man.  For those of you not in New Zealand, I can tell you that it's getting a smidgen chilly in Auckland now.  Not polar vortex chilly, but definitely put-the-fire-on-and-wear-multiple-layers chilly.

I thought the brown binding with mossy splodges was very Seuss-like

Now the wee man has quilts, but not a snuggly, buggly, lined with fluffy candlewick quilt.  The poor deprived little dear.  So I did what all crafty mummys do, and dragged out a jelly roll of Lorax fabrics that I may have bought when I was pregnant.  Good things take time, you know.

I sewed five strips from the jelly roll together to make the non-bordered patches, and trimmed them to 10.5" square.  This meant I got 4 blocks from each set of 5 strips.

For the bordered strips, I sewed three of the jelly roll strips together and trimmed the blocks to 6.5" square.  I got this meant I got 6 of the little blocks from each set of 3 strips.  I bordered the smaller blocks with 2.5" strips of white so that they ended up 10.5" square too.  All done.

Basting - not my friend

The most time was spent mucking around figuring out the layout.

Once it was all done I ummmed and ahhhed about the quilting.  I didn't really want to practice my free motion quilting, but in the end I decided that I should just suck it up and give it a go.  I channeled my inner Leah Day and got going.

I quilted the whole quilt in a pattern Leah Day calls "snake paisley".  Personally I think it looks like echoed flames.  It was okay for a first time, but that's about it.  There are various things that could have made the experience more pleasurable - a supreme slider, a quilting table, some machine quilting gloves, and a little more care.  I think I need to make sure I'm really keen on free motion quilting before I invest more money in gadgets though.

Attempts to take outside photos were thwarted by the rubbish winter light.  Sigh.

It took me about five hours.  It's fair to say that I had the hang of the pattern near the end - however my stitches were not as smooth and lovely as they should be.  Oh well, that is what practice is for.

How are you all?  What have you been up to?  In other news I had purchased the EQ7 quilt design software (for the Mac).  It seems this will be fodder for many blog posts.  Hopefully I use it lots!

Linking up on Friday to Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.  Howdy visitors!




13 comments:

Adrianne @ On the Windy Side said...

It looks great Liz! Can't wait to hear about your adventures with EQ7. Can I make a suggestion re FMQ? Buy yourself some gloves - either quilting ones or very light weight gardening gloves. They're not a major investment (I used $6 gardening gloves from Bunnings for AGES) but wearing gloves makes a major difference for me.

DeborahGun said...

such a fun quilt. And you were very brave to practice your FMQ on it. Hey - if we don't practice we won't get better!

Leonie said...

Great job Liz! Practice practice... I'd love more time to get into free motion and all the gadgets... All in good time i suppose :) Looking forward to seeing your adventures with EQ7!

Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation said...

this is too cute! I love the pattern!

:) Kelly @ My Quilt Infatuation

Glinda ♥ said...

Great baby quilt, Liz, you always match your fabrics so well! Have resisted the EQ design stuff thusfar (am still a pen and graph paper girl) so will read your future posts with interest :)

Tiffany said...

Awesome job with the FMQ!! You're much braver than I! I keep thinking to myself, next quilt I'll FMQ, then I get to that stage and don't have the patience to start/learn! I'm working on a very hungry caterpillar quilt for my daughter at the moment. It's a full size, so I doubt I'll quilt that one either. It seems such a monstrous task to even get started!
I've also been eyeing up the EQ7 software. You'll have to let us all know how it goes!!

Anna@Domestic Quilting Joy said...

Beautiful quilt and I love your simple and striking layout.

Snowcatcher said...

I'm in awe that you work full time (I know how many hours you must put in!), have two littles ones and still have time to quilt!!! The wee man should just love this. I like the pattern, and I find comfort knowing someone else struggles just a bit with free-motion quilting practice...

Anonymous said...

Love the quilt for the wee man! It is fun and happy. Good on you for free motion quilting.

Anonymous said...

It looks great!

Katherine said...

Adorable! Your wee man is sure to keep warm (and entertained, who can resist some Dr. Suess?).
Well done, crafty mama. :o)

Deb@asimplelifequilts said...

This is adorable and it looks great!

Sarah said...

Quilt top looks great! I want to see your quilting closer up to see the pattern. Speaking about getting colder today in South Australia it was 11C at 3pm. I know not polar vortex or even NZ cold, but that's a very cold day time temp for us that we probably don't dress quite warm enough for. The fire is roaring tonight!