Sleepytime Baby Quilt

21st January 2010

posted in sewing |

I did it! I finished the baby quilt! I am so thrilled and I had to put to use some new skills to complete this quilt all by myself, but I did it and am very proud of myself!

There are a few things I did for the very first time in making this quilt. After piecing the top together, I had to figure out how to quilt it. I’ve quilted smaller projects, but nothing of this size.

I began by machine stitching in the ditch around all the small squares and then outlined the larger center squares. I did some free motion machine quilting around the characters and words. When it came to the borders though, I felt they needed something more than straight lines. So, while at the fabric store, I found a heart template and decided to go for it. I marked the borders with a water soluble marker and then began stitching.

I completed the bottom border first, but not without doing some major damage to my hand. I do not have a quilting machine, and trying to get all that fabric and batting through the machine everytime I had to turn the quilt to go another direction left my hands bleeding from catching on all the pins that were holding the quilt layers together.

After discussing it with my sister Grace, and then my mom, I pulled out my sewing machine manual and finally figured out a way to drop the feed dogs on the machine and, using my embroidery foot (I don’t have a quilting foot), I was able to glide the layers through, changing direction without having to turn the fabric. It was amazing! I can’t believe I did it!

Finally, after quilting the remaining borders, I seamed my binding together and machine stitched it to the front of the quilt. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I despise hand stitching. So, needless to say, I procrastinated for several days before working up the courage to sit down with needle and thread and hand stitch the binding to the back of the quilt.

It took me 2 days just to complete the binding, but I finally did it. The binding is on and the quilt is complete! I am so very happy with the results and am truly considering purchasing more of the same fabric to make a second one. I need to for gifts and I really do like the way it turned out. What do you think?

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 21st, 2010 at 12:03 am and is filed under sewing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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1 On January 21st, 2010, Duni said:

It’s a work of art! The motifs are so cute

posted on January 21st, 2010 at 3:08 am

2 On January 21st, 2010, Karen said:

Way to go! I was wondering what was going on when you said your hands were bleeding. I use safety pins when I quilt. I think the embroidery foot and quilting foot are similar. It is fun once you get the gumption to just do it! LOL

posted on January 21st, 2010 at 2:43 pm

3 On January 21st, 2010, lynne said:

Thanks Duni! I really am so happy with the way it turned out, I think I might just go ahead and make another one!

posted on January 21st, 2010 at 3:22 pm

4 On January 21st, 2010, lynne said:

Karen – The biggest difference between the two feet would be that the quilting foot is a circle so i would have a better visual of the lines I was following. Thankfully, my pattern was pretty simple, so I was able to get it done without having to go buy another foot! I’ll probably end up getting one sometime in the future, you know I can’t keep from buying that stuff! LOL

posted on January 21st, 2010 at 3:24 pm

5 On January 21st, 2010, Lin said:

Hey, you did a great job! I have a really nice machine that allows me to machine quilt, but I really hate it! Isn’t that funny? I do. I hate all that fabric wrestling. I still like to hand quilt after all of these years. Hey, maybe we can work something out–you machine quilt my quilts and I’ll hand sew the binding. I figured out I can bind a queen size bed quilt in the time it takes me to watch White Christmas.
Lin´s last blog ..I Love Hobbes Thursday

posted on January 21st, 2010 at 4:30 pm

6 On January 22nd, 2010, ceemee said:

This is so lovely and cozy!

posted on January 22nd, 2010 at 6:31 am

7 On January 23rd, 2010, The Fitness Diva said:

Awwww, how pretty! Very nicely done! I love the materials you chose for both sides. It’s so perfect, you would never even know that it’s home made. Great work!
The Fitness Diva´s last blog ..The Fitness Diva – Strong Mind, Strong Body E book

posted on January 23rd, 2010 at 3:29 pm

8 On January 23rd, 2010, Pam ~ LeftHandedStitcher said:

Absolutely adorable!

posted on January 23rd, 2010 at 4:48 pm

9 On January 23rd, 2010, lynne said:

Lin – You are so funny! I haven’t yet attempted hand quilting, I don’t much care for hand stitching, but I do think I’d like to give it a try some time. I did enjoy the free motion type quilting that I at last figured out how to do with this quilt. It really kept me from wrestling so much with the fabric.

posted on January 23rd, 2010 at 6:03 pm

10 On January 23rd, 2010, lynne said:

you are so kind and the pic doesn’t show the details! Then you can see it’s homemade!

posted on January 23rd, 2010 at 6:04 pm

11 On January 23rd, 2010, lynne said:

Thank you Pam! That is very kind of you to say!

12 On January 24th, 2010, Laane said:

It’s lovely. Such a nice motives and beautifully done.

I’ve had quite some machine disasters too, including the needle straight through my thumb. Had to turn it off and remove it with thumb and all. I’ve been lucky no further damage was done when I pulled it out.
It was the last time I machine stitched a quilt.

Well, this way every quilt has it’s own history even before it’s used.

Glad you found a solution.

Have a great week.
Laane´s last blog ..Scuba TV

posted on January 24th, 2010 at 9:47 am