Pink Racoons (Quilt)

If you're friends with me on Facebook you've probably seen a few quilting posts popping up in my feed over the last few months.  I haven't posted anything official here yet because I didn't have anything finished to show you and many of the projects I'm working on are gifts so I don't want to spoil any surprises.  But, the time has finally come to show you some of my hard work.

I took a quilting 101 class back in October of last year.  After taking a weekly picture of Abby on a yard of fabric I had A LOT of fabric and wanted to make something lasting with it.  So, quilting seemed like the obvious choice.  The class was 6 weeks long and in it we learned the basics of cutting, assembling, quilting and binding a quilt.  Since the class ended I've been working on a number of projects including Abby's queen (!) sized quilt. This small baby quilt is the first piece I've finished and I'm so excited for my cousin Cathy's baby to get here and be able to snuggle in it.

I'm so proud of this quilt!!  I learned quite a bit along the way and will do some thing differently for the next one, but that's what learning is all about.

I cleverly (smile) named this quilt Pink Raccoon and the pattern is called To the Point by Cluck Cluck Sew (I love her patterns!).  The fabric is from the Acacia collection by Leah Duncan.  One great bonus of working with fabric from the same collection or designer is that your quilts coordinate without even trying!  Perfect for a new quilter like myself.

Here's a close-up so you can see some of the free motion quilting I did.  I case you didn't already know, pink loops in the picture are what is actually considered "quilting" it's one of the very last steps in the process and is quite interesting.  Traditional quilters will do this step by hand!!  But, most modern day quilters use their sewing machine to do this step.  However, when quilting the needle is literally only moving up and down.  You've take the feed dogs down and you are in complete control over where the fabric moves and how fast it moves (determining stitch length).  I took a separate full day class to learn how to do just this step.  The quilting I did here is called loopy loops and is a cute, fun way to quilt.

Here's a quick shot of the back of the quilt.  So much time and attention is given to the fronts that people often forget to even look at or show the backs.  For this back I used small strips of fabric that matched the front and incorporated it into the back.

Binding is the very final step of the quilting process.  The binding on this quilt is the dark green border around the edges.  I choose a dark contrasting color to make it pop and I'm so glad I did!

Two final closeups to show you some of the detail that goes into the quilts.

This quilt was specially made for the newest cousin in the Ritterbusch family.  My cousin Cathy is having her first daughter.  I missed the shower in January and the quilt wasn't ready until this weekend, but it should already be there for her when the baby comes so I made it "in time".  Phew!!  I can't wait to meet the new little peanut at the Ritterbusch family reunion in August.