Labour of Love

My finish for this week is something I started back in late June. My niece was due in August and I wanted to make a baby quilt for her – something special that she can use for years. It took me a while to figure out the perfect pattern for the fabrics I chose for her as the fabric line had some pieces that I wanted to showcase. The fabric is Owls by Adornit. It is absolutely lovely and has just the right colors. 

 

 

I ended up fussy cutting three large owls and raw-edge appliqueing them to plain white squares. The other center blocks are simple squares with white borders, all divided by a sort of dots and dashes sashing, mixing in a bunch of the fabrics. It’s a simple and clean look.

 

 

 

This is the first quilt I’ve ever completed using hand-quilting the entire way. For the thread I used a DMC red perle cotton. I experimented with different shapes and quilting in each block and did a simple outline quilting on the edges of the larger block. I love the look of the quilting.

 



 

 

 
The block above might be my favorite bit of quilting. I'm pretty sure this design is going to be reappearing in future quilts.

 

The stitches aren’t perfect but they got better as I went along. I started out using a large hoop, but by the end, I was quilting without it. It seemed easier and I don’t feel the fabrics shifted too much as I both spray basted and pinned the layers.

The backing was pieced using a few different fabrics, and on a whim, I added a fussy cut tree branch and appliqued it to the edge.

 

It was shockingly difficult to let this quilt go ... it had become a sort of friend of mine. I was sad that it was finished, it was such an enjoyable quilt to make. But it makes me happy to know my niece will love it through the years. And she will know that each stitch was stitched with love. 

 

I've linked up to Finish it Up Friday with Crazy Mom Quilts.