Cover of Trees

Although, I have three other quilts in the 'works' and promised to friends and family, I did a small change of path recently when I ran across an art print on Pinterest that I just loved. The Bare Forest Print by Etsy shop, PrissDesigns - was such an inspiration and I just had to see if I could make it into a quilt.  I stayed with a very similar color palette to the original, but wanted the colors to be warmer and repeat.  I offset those colors with Kona in bone. 

I have to acknowledge my sweet little girls for being abnormally cooperative and holding it for me to photograph.  They were such good sports.  :)  (To add awesomeness to that even, they helped me baste a quilt when we got home, so big prize in their future!)

Front

Back

For the backing I picked a "natural"cotton where the threads are very prominent and gives it a very natural look.  And, for the stitching...

I flashed back to my childhood where I would always draw the grains of wood in a similar fashion on everything I did.  I just thought the intricate wood grain in matching colored thread would transfer the design to the back of the quilt in a really neat way.

This was also my first try at machine stitched binding.  Although, I do not prefer it over hand-stitched (hand-stitched is just astoundingly beautiful as the finishing touch on a quilt), I was impressed by how easy and quick it is... so definitely a wonderful alternative that I will use again and again!

And, when its all said and done, this quilt was filled with trial and error and lots of little flaws, but that's what makes it so fun.  I had never done curvy line quilting, so that was an experience.  And, I love the quilting I chose to do, but I learned a key lesson about the 1-2" inch rule for quilting... definitely makes the cleanliness alot trickier.  I also think the limbs are a little wonky (ok, ALOT... especially the very weird low green branch) and would spend alot more time getting the tree shapes just right next time around.  I free handed the fabric cuts that created the shapes and all the stitching this time around.

I would love to remake this quilt again with all my learnings and spend a bit more time getting it perfect... and sell it in my Etsy shop.  How do you think it would do?

For the Wee One

Finally finished binding the newborn quilt I mentioned a few weeks ago.  I think it turned out quite adorable and just had to share!

It is a wee one for the wee one, measuring only 25"x30".  I found an image of a quilt utilizing the pattern online, and after doing some deep searching so that I could source the design/pattern properly, I located it here.  The pattern is for a larger end product (36" x 48").

I chose to do a newborn size, because I am utilizing the same fabrics in another much larger quilt as well for the same expecting mommy.  Still don't know the sex of the baby yet, so mommy chose a very gender neutral palette that we ran with.

Front

Back

Oddly enough my favorite part turned out to the back because I absolutely love the contrast of the "Bone" colored Kona Cotton binding the sage green zig zag fabric.  And, that was the first fabric we started with...  Kinda set the tone for the whole soon to be collection.  :)