In A Day Baby Blanket

I was so frustrated by my failed bookshelf curtains that I decided to take out all the work I had done and just sew it all together to make a newborn quilt. Just like everything else in life, if you start it under one mood that is what you will get. I had nothing but problems with this quilt and I want to focus on those mistakes so that both myself, and you the reader, will be able to learn from my mistakes. Let us begin....

I'd like to start off with my binding strip. I opted to make my own as I have done before. All I do is take the 5" charm packs and cut the squares in half. Now, if you do not know how to make a proper binding strip, let me be the first to tell you that the above picture is wrong. All binding strips must be sewn together using a 90 degree angle, not end to end. If you use the above method you will get bunches and catches, both in machine and in hand sewing.

Above you will see my quilt top sewn together and lain flat. At this point I had not ironed it, nothing. This is straight off of the machine. At this point I have to say that I was a bit pleased with myself to see it look as good as it does considering the squares are 2.5" and I'm still not accustomed to my machine. Fast forward.....

....My quilt top has been ironed, the "sandwich has been made, the stitching has been stitched, and the excess has been trimmed. It was at this point that I noticed that some of my blocks didn't match up, my edges are wonky, I forgot to iron flat a seam row from the previous picture, and there are plenty of squares that don't look as whimsical as I would like. I think only one good thought at this point, at least my quilting looks good on the top.

Zoom to read "The line which my stitching should be on."

Which brings us to here. You can see that I have pointed out that I actually missed a line. I used a vine patterned stitch and stitched every other line to both vertically and horizontally. I did this for two reasons.

1. To keep from over quilting

2. To give it a 4 square spacing

There was also the problem of my backing bunching in a few places, but I didn't show you that because I'm not overly concerned with it. Even the most seasoned quilter has the occasional issue with the backing bunching under the quilting process. This is an issue more frequent in machine quilting.

I would love to hang this quilt on my wall as a reminder of my failure, a way to push myself to do better, but my husband has a better option. He has opted that I donate my quilt to one of the many homeless shelters that offer aid to women with children. He brought it to my attention that although many will pass up my quilt with an air of disgust, those women will embrace it as the blessing it is.