How can you see all of this color and not jump up and down with happiness for Spring?
This is a baby gift for my cousin’s new little girl, Mia. Crazy story left me rushing a little with this one – my cousin actually didn’t find out she was pregnant until she was about 30 weeks. A few more weeks and she would have been on one of those TV shows! So, yeah, it was a bit of a surprise to everyone involved. But regardless, the whole extended family is plenty excited to have a new baby in the family.
The starting point for this quilt was the Alexander Henry Apples & Pears print. I’ve had a yard of it in my stash forever, and the colors seemed like a good place to start. I like the way the white in each block kind of reminds me of the white outline around each fruit in the inspiration fabric. Though I think in my head I originally thought the white space would be more prominent, I like that it ended up so bright and colorful. Nearly all of the fabric in this quilt was already in my stash before I started.
The back is nearly all of the remaining Apples & Pears on one side, and a nice girly pink on the other with a few print blocks for fun. The pink is one exception to the from-the-stash statement: I was cutting fabric for the back when I realized I didn’t have quite enough of a single color of pink, so I had to make a run for some more. Whoops!
I did my favorite loopy quilting in white thread.
Speaking of quilting – LOVING free-motion on my new machine. The extension table makes such a huge difference, plus I got one of those teflon-y sliding mats and the spiffy gloves, so the quilt slid around quite nicely. The stop/start button was an enormous bonus during free-motion, because I knew the needle speed would remain consistent without thinking about how heavy my foot was. The fact that it takes a second to ramp up to full speed when you hit “start” was also really nice. I did have a few periods of annoying thread breakage, not sure to what I should attribute that problem. But it’s one that has not completely disappeared and is always a pain. That said, I was overall very happy with the experience, and remain quite enamored of my new (and still nameless) sewing machine.
At any rate, that counts as my first finish for Spring to Finish! Now I’m off to trim some pinwheel blocks…
Oh, gorgeous quilt. I love interesting backs. My aunt was all about quick and easy on the back, but I think the back of the quilt should be fun, too, or at least colorful.
And I’m that unattractive shade of green again over the sewing machine. I try not to be, but it’s very, very hard. My machine would choke if I asked it to free motion (which is why my mother has to do all of my actual quilting for me).
I love every single thing about this quilt Liz! Your quilting is completely adorable too!
Gorgeous. I think I’ve just changed my mind on my dd’s twin size. I have 2 charm packs of Eden sitting here and think they would look great framed with some Kona solids. I’m glad to hear your machine is working out…because my hubby has just agreed to get one for me! yay!
.-= Gale´s last blog ..Grocery Bag =-.
This is so pretty and so springy. What a lucky little baby to have this to come home to.
I really love this quilt. I love that Alexander Henry print, I have some yardage of it in my stash that I’ve been hoarding.
.-= Mama Urchin´s last blog ..Knock, Knock, Anybody Home? =-.
Beautiful love the swirly quilting!
.-= Laurel Johnson´s last blog ..Thursday Update (Last one for April) =-.
Love this! And that’s my favorite kind of loopy quilting too. Can you tell me more about the teflony thing? Do you have a link?
Thanks so much for linking up to Finished for Friday and have a great weekend.
.-= threeundertwo´s last blog ..Finished for Friday: Cathedral Windows =-.
You should look into those little teflon washers for your bobbin case. I saw them on Leah Day’s 365 days of free motion quilting blog and each post has a link at the bottom for buying supplies. Other than the teflon mat and gloves, this is the other thing she reccommends!
The quilt is beautiful and crazy about your cousin not knowing she was pregnant!
.-= Tara´s last blog ..Becca’s mittens and a tatooed belly =-.
What a fun, colorful quilt! Love it, so perfect for a baby girl. And I LOVE your loopy quilting. I’m new to free motion quilting, and I’m thinking I’ll be trying loops after seeing your beautiful quilt!
It is beautiful and bright…the white isn’t over powering and helps keep it fresh and balanced!
.-= Sew Create It – Jane´s last blog ..A trip to the big city… =-.
The quilting looks especially good- I love the whole project.
Lovely!
LOL! I’m busy doing that same loopy quilting right now on my son’s quilt.
.-= Miri´s last blog ..UFO 9-patch blocks are finally becoming a quilt =-.
LOVE the quilt. LOVE the front. the back. the little pops of white. the inspiration fabric. LOVE it all around! the quilting is pretty dandy, too!
.-= amandajean´s last blog ..I had to! =-.