I finally finished up a quilt for our baby girl. I blame ordering fabric online for taking me so long to complete the project! Because it was rough sitting on the floor pinning fabric well into my third trimester! But I absolutely love how it came out and am so grateful I got the motivation to finally finish it up.
I made a few minky blankets for my son using fabric I ordered from Spoonflower. Since then, ordering fabric online has become my go to. Our local fabric store doesn't have as wide of a selection as I would like so being able to order online has been a time saver. It is a bit more expensive but I think the larger selection makes it worth it.
Another advantage to ordering through Spoonflower is that you can split your yard into two designs. So as you will see below, I have three separate yards with two fabric choices printed on each. It is laying next to the quilt I made for our son as I was comparing size and layout.
I tried a variety of ways to lay the fabric until I came up with a pattern I liked.
I even laid down some clothes to get an idea of what the quilt would look like as a background for baby girl's weekly photos!
I finally settled on a design - taking out one of the floral prints. I liked the simple hint of pink against the neutrals of black, white, and navy. Having a boy has really ingrained my love for simple neutral prints!
I started folding the pieces in different sizes using my son's quilt as a guide and then went to sewing.
At this point I stopped taking pictures because it was at least a month later that I decided on a backing fabric (also from Spoonflower) and was way too tired to document the process. So if you would like more step by step instructions, check out my son's quilt for more details.
But from here I purchased batting, cut the back to match the size of the front and then sewed it all together. I purchased gold bias tape to finish off the quilt which proved to be a huge headache again (the tape is just too small for how thick the quilt was) so if I ever quilt again, I may consider making my own. Though I do love the gold detail even though it has proven to be a lot of work for both quilts.
The quilt is not perfect but I sure do love how it came out. The batting I used this time is also thicker than what I used for my son which gives it a more "puffy" appearance. Surely it is softer and fluffier but I would have preferred something thinner for our weekly photo sake.
I am just relieved to have it done! It was definitely a labor of love. And surely once our sweet girl is laying on top of it, I will forget all about the quilt's imperfections.
I struggled with finding a fabric for the back that I liked. I really liked the modern print I used for our son's quilt and wanted to replicate it. I tried shopping the fabric store to save some money on a large back piece but couldn't find anything I loved. So I went back to Spoonflower and found this pretty blue, grey, and white geometric print. I just can't quit my love for navy. I think baby girl will be okay with that though.
Here are a few more styled shots to show off all of the quilt's glory.
A simple quilt for each of our little ones means so much to me. I would love to have the energy and enthusiasm for more crafty projects or larger quilts to pass down to my children but having this sweet and simple gift for each of them feels just right.
By keeping it fairly neutral I hope it is something that continues to grow on them for years to come. We finally put my son's quilt on his big boy bed and it feels special to actually let him enjoy it and use it now (I was all about keeping the quilt clean during his first year due to our weekly photos).
Check out my other quilt projects here:
Scrap fabric baby quilt (the beginning of my love for simple stripped quilts)
