Ewan's baby quilt - finished!!
You guys already saw a little sneak peak of this quilt on my 10 Quilty Little Secrets post - but here today to show you the finish!
My friend recently had her baby very early. She was taken by surprise - unfinished nursery, unfinished baby quilt, and baby in the nicu. Not what a first-time mom wants to deal with. I was very honored when she asked me to quilt little Ewan's baby quilt (she had finished the top).
This is the first time I've ever quilted someone else's quilt and it was both enjoyable and nerve-wracking. I was very flattered, but I knew how important and meaningful this quilt was!! I didn't want to risk messing up someone else's quilt.
I'm assuming that long-arm quilters feel this way - at least when they first start out. I've sent a few quilts off to be long-armed before, and it was interesting to be on this side of that relationship, so to speak.
Since this quilt was a lot different than quilts I normally piece, I had the opportunity to try out some designs that wouldn't normally work well in my quilts. My absolute favorite was this swirly pattern. It's called "Ocean Current" and I found it here on Leah Day's site.
I'll definitely be using it from here on out!
Using blending thread was also relatively new to me. I know, that sounds weird! But I'm wayyy into contrasting thread, so I haven't really done this before. I must say, it was strangely liberating - little mistakes are unnoticeable, and stitching in place to anchor my thread starts/stops didn't create any visible, ugly buildup. Normally I have to hand-tie and bury all my knots to avoid said buildup - man, what a time-saver! I figure that if Angela Walters just stitches in place to anchor her ends, it's good enough for me....so uh....you'll see a lot more matchy-matchy thread in the future!
You can really see the different textures created by the quilting here. I don't know how hard it will be to do the swirly design over a larger area, but I'm hoping to be able to do it again soon!
