Finish Report: Baby Craddock 1.0

Woohoo  :D

I usually have such large projects going that it's very rare for me to have a finish two Fridays in a row. But I got to devote this week's priority hours to a gift need for a baby shower tomorrow, so here we have "Baby Craddock 1.0: The Adventure Begins"!

[And, hey - Hosting link-up blogs can be super hectic. For some reason, TGIFF appears to have a glitch today. Since I guest-hosted last week, and my blog is in the top link info spot sending folks here, I'm putting in a linky party at the bottom of this post, at least temporarily. I'll pop in periodically to see if it gets activated at today's "real" spot for TGIFF and then change things. Don't want to step on anyone's toes while holding one of the greatest quilter's linkies up!]

I was limited to stash-only since we're flat broke this pay period. (Going with your newlywed daughter and high schooler to visit your Marine Corps son-in-law in Washington, D.C. on Labor Day will do that!)

Back to the baby quilt. At start time, I got a hankering to use some of this fun hot air balloon fabric since they are kinda big here in Colorado and this young family is a super fun adventurous type.

So I drew out a balloon modeled after one of those in the fabric, and then a basket filled with a teddy bear family. I am not an artist. It took me the ENTIRE "Inspector Gadget" movie and then some to get this part done. A lot of eraser, too. A LOT. ;D   I think it took me all of 20 minutes to assemble the fusible applique from it once I finally had myself a pattern to work from.

On Wednesday I shared how I do quilt-as-you-applique sewing. I wanted satin stitching for this one, both because it would look more fantastic on a hot air balloon than blanket stitching, and because I'm not always happy with how blanket stitching holds the edge down with children's quilts that get a lot of serious washing. It does take a whole lot longer, though.

The batting was a remnant of very high-loft good quality poly that has been crying to be used. Kids LOVE squishy quilts, so I really wanted this for the project. I kept quilting at a minimal to preserve that squishy quality. The remnant wasn't very large, so I couldn't make a full-size baby quilt from it. This finished at 27 x 33.5 inches after washing. It's perfectly sized, though, for car seat and stroller use. Which actually fits the theme just right!

I didn't have time to add other elements to the design, so in the quilting I wrote "The Adventure Begins" across the grass panel in heavy cream thread to celebrate the start of their little family. But it also fits for any time they go out for a walk or take a little road trip to explore something in the area!

This is the first time I've used Minky for the binding. LOVE IT! Kids adore soft, too, don't they? So this gives the little guy something to stroke and comfort himself with.

And check out who was interested in what I was working on while I was attaching the binding to the quilt! He was a total of 7 feet away from me, and stayed for a good 45 minutes eating berries off the bush to the right of the patio. Then he went and had a good 2-hr rest on the back hill.

I did the binding all by machine, single layer. Forgot to hand-stitch the corner folds closed before I washed it, so I had these to deal with this morning before I got the binding pic above with a nice neat corner:

This mom and dad are friends of ours at the Taekwondo center. They both study the martial art together, along with her whole family of origin - she is so adorable, participating with her burgeoning baby belly! We love them all. I'm looking forward over the years to perhaps getting to make "The Adventure Continues" and maybe even "More Adventures Coming Up". . .

~*~*~*~*~

Linking up at:

Fabric Tuesday

Free Motion Mavericks

Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!

Link-a-Finish Friday

TGIFF, which is at [hmmm- will get back to you on this] this week

 (main site here)

TGIFF Band-Aid Link-Up Available right here.  :D