Monday, March 18, 2013

Patchwork, Baby

Here's the last in my recent trifecta of baby quilt finishes:


In case you forgot, I cut these squares last spring when I was stuck on a project and needed something fun to regain some enthusiasm.  But then I had a baby and didn't get around to assembling them until now. 


I had originally planned to finish this little guy with some orange peel quilting, but after a couple of failed attempts I went with something much simpler, just a three-step zigzag along the seams.  Honestly, I really wanted to do some straight line quilting, but I felt like I should try something new. After I finished this quilt I thought about it for awhile and realized that it really is okay for me to prefer straight lines and not feel pressured to fmq just because everyone else is doing it. When I browse through my list of favorites on Flickr and my pinned inspirational quilts, the majority have straight-line quilting. I do think free-motion quilting is fun and I would like to get better at it, but I've accepted that I'm really more of a straight line gal. 

Untitled

For the backing, I just used the remainder of a sheet that I had originally used to make a bedskirt for one of the boys. I think the zigzags look kinda cool on the back and adds a fun texture. I don't really have any plans for this quilt, so it will probably be donated to Project Linus.

And with that comes another check off the Finish-Along list!

12 comments:

  1. So pretty! Love the colors, Toni!! :)

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  2. Excellent! Good to discover those things about ourselves, isn't it?

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  3. Very cute, and so cheerful. And yes, do whatever YOU want to do. I've felt the pressure at times to do FMQ, and I have done it with great success, but I do still gravitate back to my walking foot and that's OK!

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  4. This is so beautiful and fresh - I love the zig zag quilting too!

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  5. I love the quilting on this! Looks great.

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  6. Phew, for a horrible moment I thought you'd finally gone and patchworked the kids with that title ;o)

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  7. The zig zag quilting is so cute for a baby quilt. I've never seen it before. Quilt the way you enjoy quilting. This is supposed to be fun...and it is!

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  8. Lovely combination of bright happy colours!

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  9. I love your zig zag quilting! I'd never thought of doing it that way. I am going to try on my next squares project.

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  10. Oh, I so love this...nothing wrong with straight line quilting. In fact, I think it takes more to do it almost than free motion quilting.

    It is almost the same as people thinking it is so easy to machine quilt...then they try it and find that that takes talent, too.

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  11. That looks nice and cozy! Straight line quilting is great -- especially when it leaves the quilt cushier than dense fmq. :)

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  12. So bright and fun! I agree that I'm also more of a straight-line girl. I really like that it can help to highlight angular piecing by just echoing the shapes and that an overall straight-line looks great on just about any type of quilt.

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