Rubber Ducky Quilt

 

I finished the baby quilt.  It is bright and yellow and I really like it.

 

What I don't like is that the clear polyester thread leaves VERY slightly scratchy bits where they are cut short.  It makes for a great quilting thread, as you don't have to change colors all the time, but it tangles FREQUENTLY  All the poky bits were a pain. 

 

I sat down with some cuticle scissors, because sewing scissors did not cut close enough to the fabric.  I brushed my hand over every stitch on both sides of the quilt, cutting as I felt little pokes.  I sure hope I got them all, because I want the new baby to adore this quilt. 

 

The satin binding is silky smooth and I picture this baby rubbing her fingers up and down the edges, like my kids did with their blankets.

 

I am loving my new basket making, so I made a wee basket out of the yellow scraps to go with the quilt.  Small babyish things can be placed in there. 

 

Maybe it will have a spot on the changing table.  I didn't put any embellishments on it is case they are pulled off and consumed by a small baby.  No choking hazards for THIS baby!

 

I finished the quilt, so where is the baby?  Guess Vanessa is still making that gift for ME!

Getting Close

I am contemplating only making baby quilts and throws in the future.  They are so much faster to make than bed size quilts!

I am quilting with invisible thread. Iit comes in either polyester or nylon.  It is VERY hard to work with.  It is so thin and lightweight that it jumps off the various hoops that the thread is threaded through on my machine.  This means the tension gets all messed up and there is a lot of stopping and starting, ripping out and replacing.  I am worried that all the little cut off threads will be irritating to a baby's skin.  When I am all done I will go over every inch and cut the thread ends as close to the fabric as I can get.

 

I quilted some wave-like shapes where there is water.  I quilted around the ducks and wings.  I did some free motion quilting everywhere else and last I used a template to quilt some shapes on the borders.

 

 

When I finished all the quilting I cut the edges for a four inch border all around the quilt.

 

Now I am working on the purchased satin blanket binding.  I am doing a small border on the front of the quilt, in keeping with the size of the project.  The back will have a wider border.  All my babies liked to rub their hands and faces on a satin binding and there will be a nice thick portion to do so.

 

Rubber Ducky

I have decided baby quilts are the way to go.  Maybe they don't provide instant gratification, but they certainly are faster to make than a full sized quilt.  The baby quilt I am making is coming along nicely.

 

After a lot of peeling, placing

 

and ironing, I placed all the squares and tried to arrange them so that they mix of colors and duckies looked randomly placed. 

 

This was not easy and every one I placed meant two others had to be moved.  I finally got it as close as I could to what I wanted and then started to sew. 

 

 

Next I had to put a small inset border. I found a totally cute yellow fabric with tiny black dots and I like that it is sewn in such a way as to be attached on one side only.

 

After that the last of the aqua border was cut and sewn.

 

The top is FINISHED.  Now to the sandwich making.  This is what I call getting all the pieces together for the quilting process.

 

The back of the quilt goes face down on a table.  Smooth it out and tape it in place.

 

Place the cotton batting on top and smooth that out.

 

Then the recently finished quilt top is placed and smoothed.

 

Start at the center and pin the whole "sandwich" every few inches, smoothing and flattening as you go.  Sit down when you can.  This takes awhile and it can hurt even young people with GOOD backs!

   

Cut most of the excess away, leaving an inch or two around the edges, and start to quilt.