1st quilt for my granddaughter ❤️❤️❤️

Believe it or not. THIS is the very first quilt I have ever made! Although I have designed patterns incorporating piecing, I have never made a finished quilt with batting, binding and actual quilting.

Having a beautiful and darling five week old granddaughter was my inspiration. 

You will have to take my word about this, because her parents have wisely decided not to post photos of her online. But, this allows me to declare she is the most wonderful little girl ever born!!

At least to me she is.

Since my son and daughter-in-law moved into a new apartment in December anticipating the birth of their baby, I gave them for Christmas a voucher to make curtains for a room of their choice. I was so happy they chose the baby's room.

The splatter paint print they decided on for the curtains had a delightful coordinating animal print. So I bought two yards of that, not really sure what I would do with it.

Then I went to an American Sewing Guild meeting where several of the ladies brought quilts to show they had made for their grandchildren. And I thought ... "Heck! I can do that!"

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Don't you just love the whimsical animals on the coordinating print?

Not feeling as if I needed to reinvent the wheel, I decided to use a simple traditional quilt design from this book, which I have had for a long time. 

Good news for you, there are MANY used copies on Amazon for as little as $1.04 plus shipping. It is a good introduction to quilting.

I used the "Economy quilt" design in the book.

So, I made copies of the pattern at the back of the book, got out my rotary cutter and went to work.

I ended up sewing a lot of it on my reliable classic Bernina 830 Record, my trusty back up machine. Because, I had a friend over for a few days to help her get back into sewing after retirement and she was trying out my Juki f600. She ended up buying one for herself.

I should work for Juki.

I like to chain stitch when I have lots of small things to sew and cut them apart all at once. 

And, you know ... I think of myself as pretty accurate when sewing even seams. BUT, WOW ... you have to be super perfect and perfectly accurate when sewing all those small pieces if you want everything to line up in the final assembly.

I have new respect for quilters!!!

At least half the fabrics I had at home, but I did go out shopping for more small bright prints that would match with the colors in the animal print fabric and curtains.

It is so challenging and satisfying to choose and arrange all the fabrics and colors.

Actually this is harder than I realized giving me even more respect for experienced quilters. 

When I almost had enough blocks, I laid them out on the floor on a dark tablecloth so I could play around with the placement. 

The pattern in the book designated 4 blocks across by 6 long for a crib quilt, but I made more thinking I would make in a bit bigger. Then I realized I bought crib sized batting. It was only large enough for the 4 by 6 quilt like the book.

SO! what to do with the extras?????

Make a pillow!

And actually crib size isn't that small. It fits on the top of a twin bed, so she can probably use it for a while after she grows out of her crib.

The one little custom touch I added to this quilt was rick rack in the border seams. I am rather fond of rick rack when sewn this way, just half of it peeking out.

Plus, I have LOTS of it left over from other projects. Waste not want not.

This was a very satisfying project. I hope to make another quilt or two or three. And I will so much more appreciate every quilt I see, knowing what goes into making one.

I am starting to pull together a blog about patterns and fitting for larger sizes and for all of us who are experiencing body changes as we age. Should be up next week.