Emma’s Baby Quilt

One of the things I do for every baby is make them a quilt.  Each time I pick a different pattern and color scheme, so that each one is unique.  For Emma I was inspired by a vintage baby quilt I had been using with Piper, which was flannel (and super soft).  I also knew I wanted the flannel fabric to be feminine, but not too "babyish" and not too pink.

But the very first step was picking a pattern.  Momma Kay loaned me her quilting books and files to look through for a pattern and I had some inspiration of my own stashed away.  In the end I chose the Chain Linked pattern from Diary of a Quilter.  Amy creates such beautiful designs and I have yet to find a project from her that I don't like.

Once set on what pattern I would be using (and hence how many fabric pieces I would need) I headed to a fabric store in Provo which I discovered (accidently) carried a huge selection of designer flannel fabric.  I was in heaven!  So many choices, color palettes, designs, etc.  I had a hard time deciding but eventually settled on a line of Riley Blake fabrics with white, pink, and turquoise as the main colors.  Not too babyish but definitely feminine.

Off to work I went.  The piecing came together fairly quickly (which I was grateful for) and the pattern was easy to follow.  For the finishing, I had decided to tie the quilt with white yarn.  In the past I have hand-quilted the finished piece, but since I wanted the flannel to remain soft I asked Momma Kay if she would help me tie the quilt.  She is an expert at this, having tied many (and many more) quilts; heck, she even has her own quilting frame downstairs for this very project.  We set aside a day in Provo to set up the frame and she showed me how to tie it.  It went so fast, we were done before lunch.  The longest part was just getting it framed!

I decided I wanted to back it with the pink fabric I used in the quilt, but (of course!) when I went back to the quilt shop they were all out.  Upon doing a little online research I discovered that the fabric I needed was over a year old and, after calling around to some fabric shops, nobody local carried it.  I finally found a shop on Etsy who carried what I needed (woo hoo!) and the amount even with shipping would be what I would've paid at the fabric store.  Yeah! 

And then I got it.  Grrr...  I assumed the fabric would be 45" wide (aren't they all?) but this was around 40" wide.  So my measuring was off.  I ended up piecing the back together a little bit so I had a large enough piece to back and bind it, but when all was said and done nobody can really tell the back is pieced (including me).  I also ended up using a double layer of batting, so the quilt is super fluffy as well as soft.

Didn't it turn out well?  Emma likes it.  (Doesn't she look so little on it?  And it's not even that big.)