Tuesday, January 29, 2013

A 'Pretty Little Thing'

The 'Pretty Little Things', Fussy-Fairytales-leftovers, baby quilt is finished!


I used this tutorial for the wonky cross blocks, which was super easy and fast to do since there's no need to measure for the crosses - just slice and insert!  My cross strips vary between 1.5" and 2" wide.


For the first time, I used a minky backing fabric.  I was nervous about it, but had read enough success stories that I finally decided to give it a whirl.  The minky is very stretchy and rather slippery (doesn't have that "cling" that cotton fabric has) so I was quite nervous about shifting, especially since I opted to pin baste vs. spray baste.  Fortunately, it turned out to not be an issue.  The quilting went great with no shifting at all.  I used a wavy machine stitch and quilted it quite minimally (in fact it's difficult to see in the photos!) because I wanted to preserve as much of the minky squishiness as possible.  :)


I chose to bind the quilt using Kona Cerise, also leftover from Fussy Fairytales.  I am a fan of hand-stitching the binding to the back of the quilt but wasn't sure how it would work with the minky.  I found that I needed to be more careful when stitching, making sure that I was stitching right into the fabric and not just into the surface "fluff", but I got in the groove and it worked out great.


A story - I had a freak-out moment yesterday when I pulled the quilt out of the wash and found that the lines I had marked on the top for my wavy quilting had washed out of everything except one fabric!!  See the light blue/white print, near the bottom left of the quilt??  The markings for some reason did not wash out of that one fabric (which also appears as the cross strips near the top right of the quilt).  I use Crayola washable markers and have on many projects with no troubles, even on white fabric.  So not sure what happened here!  So I sprayed those two areas like crazy with Shout, put it back through the wash on a warm/warm cycle, and thankfully the marks came out.  Phew!!!


This quilt will likely find its way into my Etsy shop, but I sure do wish I had a baby girl to give it to!


Fresh Poppy Design

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

17 comments:

Katie B said...

I'm glad to hear the Minky experiment was a success! Very sweet quilt.

Susan said...

Congratulations on a very successful finish Heather! The minki looks lovely as dies the bold binding. Lovely!

Kristan said...

It's beautiful, Heather! I would have freaked out too! Glad the minky worked well for you, it's perfect for a baby quilt.

Toni said...

It looks fabulous! Glad you had such success with the minky!

Jess @ Elven Garden Quilts said...

Lovely. Glad the minky didn't cause problems :o)

Kirsten said...

It looks beautiful - the minky would be so soft and cuddly!

Taryn V. said...

It is gorgeous! I adore the color combination. Minky blankets are always my favorite. It is so soft!

CitricSugar said...

So pretty. It looks like a lovely bunch of presents…!

heartsease54 said...

The quilt turned out lovely. Glad the binding worked out for you, when I use minkee on the back of back of baby quilts, I just switch the stitching order-sew minkee to back & turn binding to the front to stitch down by hand, that works great too.

Debbie said...

Very very sweet! Glad the minky worked out ok!

Erica said...

Oh I just love the colors of this quilt! And I'm glad that you didn't have a problem with the minky, it makes such a nice quilt back :)

amy dame said...

this is so cute, what a great pattern for a quick baby quilt!

Carla said...

Absolutely gorgeous Heather. That backing........I can just feel it

Kelsey said...

This is a perfect baby girl quilt, love it! That minky looks sooo soft!

Anonymous said...

It is a beautiful quilt - what a great choice for a girl :-)

Maja said...

So nice!
Like your choice of color and pattern;-)

Samantha said...

Sweet quilt :)