strawberry fields is finished!

I usually name my quilts after the person receiving it, but in this case I don't know the person. Memaw has a good friend in Florida who is any day now expecting her first granddaughter, and this quilt is for that granddaughter. Memaw has a soft spot for the excitement of a granddaughter! So, I've been calling it the Strawberry Fields quilt because that is the name of the fabric line.

Memaw was going to tie it and finish it off, but the quilt top got put in a drawer and forgotten. And that's ok, because I got to try out some free motion quilting for the first time. Free motion quilting is when you sew a pattern (in my case, loops) instead of hand-sewing or even straight lines. It takes some practice and a lot of reading of quilt blogs, but I tried it out and liked it a lot. And the little loop pattern is so sweet for the baby girl quilt.

I have no idea why I did just six blocks (I did this quilt top back in September, so I was probably scared to make it bigger!), so I added white borders on two sides to square it out a bit. I couldn't make more blocks because I didn't have any fabric left. I don't know what the pattern name is, but I copied it from my "September" block of the Calendar quilt I still haven't finished.

I have to admit, it is hard for me to appreciate the quilts I make. I look at them and see the flaws - the corners that don't match, the missed seams, the wayward stitching. And I need to be better about that, because in all honesty, if people wanted perfection they'd just order a quilt from Pottery Barn. So I'm starting with this quilt - I absolutely love it!




High contrast photo (the fabric here is white, not blue), so you can see the stitches. It's far from perfect, but any little mess-ups get lost in the patterns of the fabrics.



Close-up of the block pattern.



This binding isn't even from the same fabric line. I happened to notice it at Jo Ann's, and figured it would match close enough. I am thrilled with how it pulls everything together.



It's crib-sized.



The back. Because I added on the white borders, I didn't have enough backing material. Again, to Jo Ann's where I found this sweet pink and cream damask. The pink isn't a direct match to the pink on the front, but it's close enough. And very sweet.



And my friend Allison has just informed me she is expecting a new bundle of joy this summer, so once I find out what they are having I will begin a new baby quilt!