Straight Line Baby Quilt

This was one of my very first quilts! Myfriend had announced that her baby boy came into this world 3 months early. This little guy overcame the odds and stayed strong to improve his health. Mom stayed by his side in the NICU and stayed strong for him through the next 3-4 months before he was able to come home! Her son is 1 year old now and this is the “enormous” baby quilt I made for him. I should have looked at preemie patterns… lesson learned!

First I looked for the right fabric. Found the cutest Michael Miller prints through Amazon and had to buy! Featured on this quilt are Bug Jars in green and Windy Day in aqua, both from the Backyard Baby line. I still have a ton of Bug Jars as I was lucky enough to get the end of bolt special and the remaining fabric sent to me at no additional cost! At Joann’s, my mom and I were able to find the perfect accent solids in grey, green, orange, and blue.

This was a very simple pattern and I highly recommend it for a beginner project! It’s also the one pattern I’ve used more than once. Check out The Basic Baby Quilt Tutorial by Knitty Bitties found on Thirty Handmade Days.

The backing, also part of Michael Miller Fabric’s Backyard Baby Line , Birch Forest in aqua paired nicely with a bright orange solid. Zoom into this fabric and note the cutest woodpeckers with matching orange crown feathers.

For the quilting I used the walking foot and straight line quilted on either side of the seams. Within the larger prints I got a little adventurous and attempted free motion quilting for the first time and traced out the tree prints and bug jar prints.

The binding on this quilt uses the “cheater binding” method which is linked  in the tutorial. I didn’t like this method too much and I’ve only done my binding this way once. This completed my very first baby quilt! Should keep baby cozy and warm for years to come.