a quilt for adelaide

It took me almost two years, this quilt that I began for Adelaide when she was just born. To make it, I pieced all of the little turquoise blue, tomato red, and natural muslin 2" squares by machine. Then I quilted it all entirely by hand. But once all of the tiny stitched quilting was done, it sat folded in my workroom for months while I procrastinated daily about squaring and binding it.

I really wanted to double-fold bind it, but I have never done it before and to me it seemed more difficult than it actually is. I kept looking over varying tutorials in books and online again and again. I am the type of person that learns by seeing and doing, so I kept putting it off. But 3 days before christmas I sat up in bed one night and knew that I wanted to finish it for Addie for her christmas present. And I decided to stay up late each night to try and have it ready in time.

So I googled double fold binding and cross-referenced several website tutorials. I have found that when I am trying to learn a new skill and I don't have someone to teach me it in person, cross-referencing several sources helps me out emmensely. I was going to use plain muslin for the binding, but I remember reading long ago that if you're going to spend all that time working on binding a quilt, it's nice to have a pretty pattern to look at. So I used a sweet blue and red print instead, and I am so glad that I did!

For the label I used printable fabric sheets. I designed it up in Illustrator, and printed it out on my desktop printer. I then hand-washed and ironed it, and sewed it right sides together with interfacing. The I trimmed the corners and flipped it rightside out, and blindstiched it to the back bottom corner of the quilt. The typeface I used is called Neutraface.

I always like to use flannel on the backsides of my quilts, something that my grandma always did... it just makes them so warm and cozy. Rather than buying flannel in yardage, I usually visit a clearance store such as Winners and buy a good-quality flat flannel bedsheet. This way I never have to sew two pieces together for them to be wide enough for my quilts. It works perfectly!

So I finished the quilt just in time for Adelaide's second ever christmas, and she really adores it. But Elliot loves it even more, and we have a difficult time sometimes when we want to cuddle up in the quilt - he won't ever get off of it!

p.s. I forgot to mention that I have several red and blue squares left over from this project. If you would like to have them, please contact me with your mailing information and I will send them to you.  They have now found a home, thankyou Erica!