1st Quilt {Kids Krafts}

I took the plunge and made my 1st quilt. I won't get into all the gory details :) Just suffice it to say I am glad I chose a quilt with a pattern and a tutorial. And I'm very glad I have some quilting experts in my life to answer my numerous questions.

I saw this ombre quilt on Pinterest from See Kate Sew and I loved how simple and modern it was. I was very hesitant to try my hand at quilting, but I knew I wanted to make something special for this new little man in our lives. For Sawyer we created a whole nursery and numerous crafts. Since Nora was my 1st girl I went a little overboard creating everything from headbands, dresses and a butterfly mobile for her. Also, both Sawyer and Nora had several special quilts made by family members including great grandma. I knew this little one wouldn't have a quilt from great grandma Schenk so I thought it might be nice if he had some kind of keepsake quilt. Thus began the journey…

I decided to base the colors off the nursery and Sawyer's bedding. I also decided to stray from the pattern and create a twin size quilt (instead of baby sized) so it could be used on their bunk beds when he was out of the crib. If I was going to put that much effort into a project I did not want it sitting in a drawer after a year :)

First I chose the fabric. Then I began the process of cutting the triangles.

After the tedious process of cutting I laid out my pattern and began sewing the rows.



This is an in-progress shot of the front all sewn together. Then it was time to baste the quilt with the batting and the back.

 

At this time I was 8 months pregnant and getting on the ground to insert safety pins was not the easiest of tasks, but I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel so I pushed through.

Then it was time to actually quilt the blanket. I chose to follow the tutorial and use the stitch-in-the-ditch method on the white and gray triangles. I honestly assumed this would be one of the easier tasks since I sew all the time. However, as I placed the quilt on the sewing machine progress came to a screeching halt! I spent the next 2 hours sewing 3 triangles, ugh. My sewing machine could handle stitching the 3 layers, but what I didn't anticipate was the bulk of the quilt. As I made each turn of the triangle I had to push the whole quilt through the machine opening which was super difficult and all my basting was going to waste.

I realize now I should have made the quilt in sections so my machine could handle the bulk, but it was too late at this point. After great debate about a solution (sending it to a quilter, hand sewing, etc) I decided to take it to a local long arm quilt shop. I had to give up the ideal triangle stitch-in-the-ditch dream because that doubled the price, so I chose to have each row of triangles sewn at the top and the bottom to preserve the modern feel of the quilt. When the quilting was finished I made the binding and attached it.

And here is the finished product:

Sorry it's a little wrinkly from being folded, but I've ironed it so many times while working on it…wasn't going to happen again :)

Overlooking the wrinkles I LOVE it and I hope he does too! I think it will look great in his room and hopefully it's neutral enough to grow with him.