When I was pregnant with my son, I decided to make him a baby quilt. Something small and easy, and something that wouldn't be too incredibly difficult to also make for future children. As the youngest of 8 children, I am always telling myself not to do something special for one kid if I wouldn't want to do it for 8... even though I have no intention of having 8 children. ;)
I decided to make this Sweet Divinity Diamond Quilt by the Quilted Fish for my daughter. The tutorial is great, and, even though I am an impatient when I sew, the quilt top still turned out great!
And then... my anxiety overwhelmed my impatience with just wanting the quilt finished. So, the quilt top sat neatly folded until my daughter was almost 3 months old. I loved the 3-month photos that Debra did of my son with his quilt, and I wanted similar photos of my daughter with her quilt. But I was terrified of machine quilting!
I had hand-quilted my son's quilt, but I didn't have the time or the patience or the free hands for that now. Thankfully, I have a friend who makes fantastic quilts and she agreed to give me a crash course on machine quilting (thanks, Heidi!). In 45 minutes, she gave me the courage that I needed to dive in to machine quilting... even if I wasn't good at it, I was confident enough that I wouldn't totally ruin the quilt, at least. :)
I followed these steps from the Aesthetic Nest for making the bias tape (the tube construction makes it so easy!) and then I followed this tutorial for ZigZag Binding from Stitched in Color -- it was fast and easy, even if it's still not perfect since I'm too impatient. :)
It's hard to see, but I love that light blue paisley fabric (like the diamond that I embroidered with her name), and the backing fabric makes me smile every time I see it...
especially when it's accompanied by these sweet cheeks :)
9 comments:
LOVE it. I'm pinning. :) I'm trying to decide if I should make a baby blanket for our baby due in March. I didn't make blankets for any of the others as babies, although other people made blankets for them. (Our first two were adopted and I made quilts for their birth parents...so I guess I was busy doing that instead of sewing for the baby.) They've all had to wait until 3 or 4 for their first mom-made blanket...kind of silly since I love to quilt so much.
As the oldest of seven, I completely understand your complex! (my mother is my motivation to keep up on my scrapbooking. I remember an entire summer being devoted to trying to sort through the apple boxes of photos she had "saved" for years!) I do a cross-stitch for each of my children. The first couple got finished while I was pregnant, or within a year after. I am currently about half-way through the cross stitch for my fifth child, and she will be three in a few months. Whatever. It will get done eventually, and then they will all have one.
Precious, and a really fun pattern. Way to finish it up. I'm always leery of starting quilts, because much like the afghan I started knitting, I know it will sit for quite a while before being finished.
It turned out so darling! I really truly love it! Your back fabric is a perfect fit!
That backing fabric is my fave! I love it. And I love those sweet cheeks. As the second of 6 I also find that there is always an imbalance of what one child gets vs the others. I'm trying to do my best and not make it too obvious (although child #1 has her first year scrapbooked, child #2 has a few months done and child #3 has 5 pics finished, child #4? nada)
XOXO
It's gorgeous Lu and you've almost given me the courage to start my long-stalling project
OH!!@! That quilt is amazing!!! You are amazing!! Greatjob! I want one!
Gorgeous, Lorene! I am so impressed! I only have two kids, and I've already short-changed my second on a lot of things. I feel guilty, but I don't feel bad enough to get motivated enough to do anything about it :)
WOW, that is so awesome! You have mad skillz girl, I love that and the color combos are darling!
Post a Comment