A Quilt for Natalie

In January, after a looong hiatus from quilting, I decided to dig into my fabric stash and start cutting into it to see if I could find some inspiration to get myself back into the quilting mood.

I bought this cute pastel bubble fabric, oh, I think back in 2004, while in Alberta at a quilt retreat. Knowing that I wanted to make a baby quilt for my two co-workers who recently had baby girls, I cut a whole pile of 2.5" squares, enough to make two 9-patch quilts with alternating plain blocks. 

I made one of the 9-patch quilts but unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture before giving it away. 

There was still fabric left over, so I cut it into 2" strips x WOF, not really sure what I would make with it, I just knew I didn't want to put it back in the cupboard.

The Missouri Star Quilt Company has lots of great tutorials on Youtube, and after seeing this tutorial for "Summer in the Park", I really wanted to try it! The tutorial uses a jelly roll (2 1/2" strips) to make the quilt, but there's no reason you can't make it using 2" strips, for a slightly smaller block.

For the backing, I used more stash fabric to piece the back, along with pieced remnants from the block strip sets. I'm really happy with it, as it makes it fun, and reversible. I can't wait to give this quilt to her!

I thought I'd try quilting it with large bubbles, but after practicing for a bit, I decided I was not ready to try it on a big quilt. My bubbles looked more like eggs, not exactly round!

 

Not exactly the best lighting for quilting! I use an Ott-Lite set up behind my machine to illuminate my sewing area. It works!

 

 

I machine quilted in the ditch around all of the diamonds and squares, which made a nice pattern on the back.

 

The binding is a pink gingham "Mini Mikes" by Michael Miller. Isn't the selvage cute?

 

Beautiful little Natalie was born in November, and she has been waiting patiently to receive her quilt. She'll have lots of time to grow into it. The blocks finish at 11.5" and the quilt measures 51" x 64" after washing.

 Happy quilting!

~Kat~