Timber and Leaf Baby Quilt

A little over a week ago I was asked to take a meal to a friend that recently had her fifth baby. I of course was thrilled to do that, but I knew I had to bring a gift as well. Since it was baby #5 there wasn't a baby shower, so I hadn't given a gift to the baby.

I won a giveaway about a month ago from Krista @ Sew What's Cooking, it was six Fat Quarters of Timber and Leaf by Sarah Watts. I knew that fabric was just perfect for a baby quilt, so I pulled a coordinating gray solid and started cutting fabric.

Since I had less than a week to start and finish the quilt, I decided I had better keep it simple... And I am glad I did, last week was busy at work due to last minute finished on the company's taxes.

I cut 5.5 inch squares of the Timber and Leaf and Gray. I sewed them into 9 patches, arranged with alternating the gray. So that when I cut the 9 patches in quarters I would have gray rectangles on two sides and print squares on the corner.

I cut 2.5 inch strips of the print and made a narrow border. The top was quick and easy. Although in my haste I made several piecing mistakes and had to take apart two rows! 

I had the perfect piece of silvery gray minky dot fabric to back the quilt with. I love backing baby quilts with minky! 

Then to quilt... I probably should have just quickly "stitched in the ditch" and finished the quilt and been done with it, but what's the fun in that??? I had seen a few quilts recently with a "woodgrain" design and decided that Timber and Leaf would be the perfect medium for "woodgrain." Of course, I am a novice Free Motion Quilter and I was a bit nervous, not only was this a gift, it was a gift that had to be finished ASAP. 

I drew out my design idea on paper, then I made a sample quilt "sandwich" and practiced a little bit and decided okay, I will dive in. 

It actually went really well at first, but then I am not sure what I did, but I realized that my tension was completely off, and I had a mess. So I had to rip out several lines of stitching, grab my quilt sandwich again and work on getting the tension right. Getting the tension right was the most difficult part of the whole thing, and each time I changed the bobbin (had to do that 4 times), the tension would get off again. I don't know what was happening. When it was finished, there were a few lines that I didn't really like, but the rest looked pretty good!

Here is an up close pic of the stitching... I used gray thread (Gutterman), I would definitely like to try using Aurifil in the very near future. 

I bound it with gray fabric. Overall I like the way it turned out. I love the back, I think the minky really accentuated the "woodgrain" design. 

The back

The Front

I was able to give it away on Friday with the meal (Creamy Enchiladas Verdes, Mexican Rice, and Beans) I brought over... And as usual the minky backing is a big hit, not just with the baby, but ALL of his siblings!