Completed: Baby Quilt 2

Well after two more big post-work sessions, baby quilt 2 is finished. I’m thrilled with the result. I showed it to a mutual friend of the friend I’m planning on giving it to and she will apparently love it. Result! Here’s the finished quilt:

It’s a machine-pieced, machine-quilted patchwork quilt. I love the back, which is cream with words written across such as “love”, “family” and “celebrate” which I think capture the reason for giving this quilt – as a present for a new addition to a family. I outline quilted each square and border on the quilt. This took a while – lots of stopping and starting, but I’m really pleased with how this looks, especially on the back.

So what did I learn from this quilt?

1. Double-fold binding is definitely the way forward. It was much easier than the self-binding I did on my previous quilt. I followed this tutorial by Heather Bailey which comes as a handy printable sheet.
2. I enjoyed hand-sewing the binding to the back of the quilt. It was important to keep the stitches small and often though, so that they weren’t too visible. Mine were about 1/4″ apart and this seemed to work.
3. I need a better thimble!