A Baby Quilt - a finished project

One of the great things about quilting, or doing any craft for that matter, is that there is always something new to learn.  I'm a teacher by profession and not so long ago there was an expectation we teach "Three Part Lessons" (I won't go into it here) but this quilt reminded me of this because I learned three key things along the way.

Firstly, this finished quilt provided a lesson for me in long-arm quilting, and I am pleased with the overall look and feel.  Today's finished quilt represents such a departure for me because of the swirls and curves because I am usually limited to quilting using straight lines.  To the untrained eye it must seem like any other quilt I have made but I feel proud of this quilt because I learned a new skill and applied it with some success.  Obviously I am no expert yet, but quilting also teaches that practice does make perfect.  Hopefully I will be able to develop my basic skills further and show my progress on this blog at some point.

This quilt was made with scraps from other quilts but I really like how the fabrics interact.  The greens and blues work well side by side and I like the light backgrounds on many of the squares.  The backing fabric is by Red Rooster Fabrics and I think that it's called A is for Animals. I am pleased with how the letters match many of the colours on the front.

The second lesson I learned here is that variegated thread might not be the right choice for long-arm quilting, especially on so much white.  This comes as a shock to me as I cannot resist a variegated thread but the next time I use the long-arm quilter I am going to have a go using a solid thread throughout because I wonder if this thread is too busy when there is so much quilting on the front.  That's just another example of learning throughout this craft.  I need to try it, compare it and decide which I prefer.

I chose a red gingham fabric for the binding on a whim but it has worked brilliantly.  I think the red brings out the red on the front and the back but also gives it a classic feel even though there are contemporary fabrics on the front.  Here was also my third lesson.  The binding is the best I have ever sewn because I looked up a tutorial by Red Pepper Quilts and I was then able to make the binding less bulky and more regular.  I haven't finished it off on the machine, I finished it by hand, but a future lesson will be to finish binding on the machine.  I think there is something extremely motivating about the fact that there is always more to discover, to learn and to perfect.  

Thank you for visiting.

P.S.  As my blog is relatively new and in a bid to increase the number of readers and followers I am linking to Lily's Quilts who has a monthly link to boost small blogs like mine.