quilt deuce

I finished the boy quilt I was working on, and my fingers were sore for a couple of days! I hadn't realized how tiring the actual quilting is, and with bad light in the living room, I spent most of the time hunched over directly below the ceiling fan light. The hub suggested I use the dining room table since the light there is stupendous, but alas there is no tv there, so I made it up to my back with a massage today. Bonus!

So, onto the girl quilt. I found out the mom-to-be isn't a big "pink person," so I poo-pooed on that right away. Get used to it - into every mother of a daughter's life a little pink must fall. I had been eyeing this nursery rhyme toile at the Hobby Lobby for a while and decided it would be the focal point of the quilt. The motif is adorable - all these nursery rhymes, each of which I used as a center square.



Grandma helped me pick out the coordinating fabrics, which we knew needed to be subtle in pattern so as not to distract from the toile. Grandma insisted on a polka-dot and I fell in love with the gingham.



So far, both of my quilts have started out the same way - the nine square. But this time not all the nine squares would be identical, since the border would be around this quilt instead of in the middle. I didn't want identical blocks against each other, so I alternated the middle column in each nine square.



Instead of sewing this quilt, I used baby yarn to secure the layers. It was a technique Grandma told me about, and my sister has used it too. I wanted to try something new, and I think it really made this quilt feel sweet and baby-like. I used blue yarn to coordinate with the blue in the nursery rhyme toile. I double-layered my batting, so the quilt turned out nice and plush.



Admittedly, the knotted yarn is SO MUCH FASTER than the sewing it may be my new favorite technique! This took about one hour (with breaks) and the sewing on the boy quilt took a week. I finished it tonight because I really just wanted to see it complete. I love how it turned out, and this fabric is going in my scrap box for future quilts.