I remember the night I started this quilt very clearly. I was home by myself, in my old apartment on a Saturday night. It was getting down to the wire before moving and I had a list of things a mile long to do. Mostly cleaning, purging and packing. Do you know what I did instead? I purged a bottle of wine from the fridge and cut up a pile of fat quarters into triangles, cause we’re quilters and that’s what we do.
I’d never made a triangle quilt before and suddenly when I looked at this cute gender neutral baby prints bundle I realized it needed to be my first triangle masterpiece. I’d picked up a bundle at Quilter’s Way at some point in my travels and without any baby in mind I thought it would be good to have some neutral baby prints around since I am in that age where suddenly everyone’s married and pregnant.
I used my Super Sidekick ruler to cut the pieces up and then quickly arranged the triangles and pieced them together. Before Sunday was over I had completed the top and hadn’t packed a thing. I put the quilt away to finish after the move.
Recently I got around to finishing the quilt. It was kind-of a disastrous finish. First I didn’t have enough of the flannel backing fabric (not a lot of flannel around to piece a back together with) then after I quilted with a fresh new Minky backing I botched the binding not once but twice.
All in all I’m happy that I ended up with this new binding cause I like the way the orange and white scallops plays at the edge of the quilt. I used the glue binding technique I learned from the class taught by Christy Fincher of Purple Daisies Quilting at the Original Sewing Expo back in April. It was challenging cause of the minky, but I finally got it done.
I was excited last week to get the birth announcement from a former co-worker that they had their first baby girl, Maya. A bunch of us from that job all got together this week and I gave her this gift to bring to keep Maya warm in the Minnesota winters since they’re moving back to her home state shortly.
So happy this guy has a home now; a baby quilt with no home is a crying shame!
A Thought on Packaging Gift Quilts
Maybe it’s just me but I prefer to fold up the quilt so the back is showing then wrap it in tissue paper and put it in a gift bag; that way the recipient can’t get a preview of the top until EVERYONE there gets to see it once it’s removed from the bag and unfolded. (It also makes for a great photo op that way!)
How to you package up your gift quilts? Share your method in the comments!
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Your baby quilt is adorable! I haven’t used Minky yet. Was it difficult to quilt? It’s so nice that this adorable quilt has a baby now!
The minky wasn’t hard to quilt with but I bent it to my will with some spray basting so there was no way it was shifting anywhere! Thanks for the kind words Ramona!
What a beautiful and perfect quilt for a baby. And look at those points, pretty impressive for this being your first triangle quilt!
I totally hear you on so many babies being born around me, I’ve been constantly supplying everyone with baby quilts =)
Haha – I can totally related to doing something else when there is clearly a pressing need to be doing something really important like packing for a move! I still haven’t tackled using minky in a quilt, and it looks so soft and snuggly here for the baby quilt. Was quilting it hard or different? And what a perfect quilt / gift to have on hand and ready to give to your lucky co-worker. I agree that folding up a quilt with the backing showing is an ideal way to gift quilts. It increases the fun, especially when you can be there to see it being unwrapped!
Crafternation I’ve heard it called (crafters procrastination), seems to come up on me every time the housework needs doing too!
Oh I crafternate wicked good, let me tell you. Whether it’s housework, laundry or grocery shopping I’d much rather be crafting!
When I gift a quilt, I fold it so that the label is what they see when they first take it out of the bag. I make Dresden Plates as my labels and I write on the center circle of the flower. I use the same fabrics to make the Dresden Plate petals as I used to make the quilt top. It’s kind of a sneak peek and the person will almost always make a comment how pretty the flower is and how beautiful the fabrics are. Then, they are especially surprised when they see those same fabrics on the front of the quilt. I sign and date the quilt as well.
Very sweet gender-neutral quilt. The last one I gave I folded up fat-quarter style with all edges tucked in and then wrapped ribbon around it. It was being mailed and fit in a big envelope, which was great.
I love the quilt. Did you use batting as well or just the minky?
I super love that you said wicked good. I was born on the coast of MA and I still have some family there so the Boston accent is near and dear to my heart.
I’m always so excited when people notice the wicked I throw in there sometimes haha! The trick is not typing wicked smaht cause only some people get how colloquially New England that is (and not just that I can’t spell!!)
Oh and yes, I used a really light weight batting in addition to the minky, I laid the top over the minky and decided it was just a bit too light weight for my taste. I’m pleased I used the batting.
This post had me smiling the whole time I was reading. Love the story of your quiltcrastination, the beautiful colors of the quilt, the soft back, and the fact that you had a quilt all ready to give when it was needed! But my favorite part was how you fold your quilt for gift giving. I’m definitely going to steal that idea!
Thanks JanineMarie! This post had me smiling the whole time I wrote it so I’m glad it had the same affect on your end 🙂
I love minky for the back of a baby quilt…. Not a big fan of piecing with it though. I also love to drink wine and quilt. Wonderful finish.
I could not imagine piecing with minky Deb! That seems like quite a task. Maybe large blocks but I think I’ll stick to minky for backing only for now!
Very cute baby quilt. I have not made a triangle quilt yet, but that was my plan for the MQG Riley Blake challenge quilt (which I have not even started cutting pieces for).
I had so much fun with the triangles, especially deciding on placement and creating fun extra designs by arranging the triangles different ways. A triangle quilt with those Riley Blake prints will be wonderful. My MQG Riley Blake project is in a “stuck” state cause I loved my idea but the outcome isn’t quite matching up which is disheartening. Yours will certainly be spectacular!
I always fold with the back and label showing. Then it’s a surprise when it’s unfolded.
where do you purchase the tags you sew into the binding? i like to bag my gifts with lots of tissue paper sticking out the top.
This is a tale of every quilters procrastination story. Any large daunting boring task I have to get done in a timely manner you can usually find me doing the SAME thing (glad to know I am not alone on this one). For packaging quilts, I always put a hand embroidered message on the back then roll the quilt up into a log. Then I just fold over the embroidered message (also the tag) and put a big bow on it. Although I really like your tissue paper idea.
Haha yes you are certainly not alone Chelsea! I am so thankful I wasn’t quilting in college cause the late night final study sessions would have been awful seeing quilting and sewing beckoning for me all over the room!!