Thursday 19 December 2013

If you go down to the woods today (a baby quilt)

A colleague of mine is expecting his first child soon.  He and his wife haven't found out the baby's gender, so something suitable for a boy or a girl was called for.

If you go down to the woods today quilt 

The top of this baby quilt is possibly the quickest quilt top I've ever made (mainly because it is made up of only eight pieces of fabric!).  I really wanted to use the awesome Kokka cheater print featuring bears and bunnies and other woodland creatures - preferably without cutting it up too much.  Apart from just liking it as a big piece, it is also a slightly heavier linen/cotton blend, and I didn't want too many seams which might end up being bulky.  

If you go down to the woods today quilt 

Really, how cute is this fabric?  I haven't seen it around too much, but Stitchbird has it in another colour way.

If you go down to the woods today quilt 

Since the top was so simple, I decided to do something a little bit special for the quilting - woodgrain!  I learned this technique in Angela Walters' Craftsy class, and have been wanting to try it ever since.  It's not the easiest design to do on a domestic machine though, because you need to move the quilt around a lot, rather than working on a small area at a time.

If you go down to the woods today quilt 

That said, I am really pleased with how the woodgrain quilting came out, and it was easier than I thought it would be.

If you go down to the woods today quilt 

I had a little bit of the feature fabric left over, so I used it to make a label.  Sometimes simple is best.

By the way, these photos are taken after the quilt was washed and dried (on the line, not in a dryer).  I didn't pre-wash any of the fabrics (including the linen blends used on both the front and the back) and the quilt crinkled up just the right amount (phew!).  I did give it a light press to get out the crease from hanging, but that didn't take the crinkle out (and nor would I want it to!).

If you go down to the woods today quilt

I took these photos around 6pm - you can see that it is well and truly still light, but the sun was starting to go down, and in trying to get a nice tree-filled background for my shot I ended up capturing the sunlight instead.

I'm thinking this kind quilt might be my new go-to baby gift for when I don't have a lot of time.  You only need a half yard of your feature fabric and then a few co-ordinating fabrics, and it's so speedy to put together.  I did mine all from stash, and even if you don't have an insaneextensive stash like me, I bet you could too!  It's so simple that it almost doesn't need instructions, but would anyone be interested in a tutorial on how I put mine together?
 
Quilt Stats
Finished Size: approx 36" by 45"
Fabric: various
Binding: Skinny Plaid in Blue from Laura Gunn's Cosmos collection
Pieced and quilted by: me

Linking up with finish it up friday at crazy mom quilts and Sew Cute Tuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts.

14 comments:

Salsy said...

Great job..and I thought you had inset all those squares when I first saw the photos. Clever work indeed..and love the woodgrain effect on this woodland quilt too.

Dominique said...

Adorable quilt, Adrianne. I love your woodgrain quilting, it is well done and is perfectly suited to this quilt.

Dominique said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeborahGun said...

really sweet and your quilting is amazing :-)

Roslyn said...

Love the woodgrain quilting, it looks amazing. Great fabric combo, perfect for either a girl or boy!

Jill said...

That wood grain quilting pattern is so cool! Love it, and the label.

Carla said...

A very cute fabric print for sure. You took it to the next level with the fabulous quilting : )

Erica said...

Cute! I love the line of trees at the bottom of the quilt, also love the creative label!

Samantha said...

I really love how the quilting turned out on this quilt! It looks good!

CapitolaQuilter said...

Perfect choice for the quilting - I really, really need to give that a try because it looks amazing.

Gemini Jen NZ said...

The woodgrain is ideal! Great choice. Love the whole quilt, it looks fantastic. Have a Merry Christmas.

Jasmine said...

I have made three quilts similar to this, and it is so much fun to sew up. I love how you quilted it all over. I quilted each stripe individually, and I may have to try what you did next. ;)

Renee said...

Phew, I hear ya on those long quilting lines! But they look great and add a nice detail to the quilt. Its a great quilt, that panel is so sweet!

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