My first quilt

I have to say that I am proud of myself on this one! I have been sewing for several years. I am about 95% self taught and the other 5% comes from watching my grandma and one of my aunts sew while growing up. I think my grandma was even a seamstress at one point, I could be mistaken, though. If you check out my Etsy shop, you'll find several other items that I have sewn. I've done a number of things over the last few years (crib bedding for the boys, blankets for the kids, diaper doublers recently, aprons and random other things) and I enjoy it very much, though I'm definitely not a professional.

The quilt I chose to do for my darling little girl on the way was a Dutch Girl/Sunbonnet Sue quilt. I have one from when I was a baby and thought I'd try to replicate it in a modern sort of way.

I found a pattern online of the pieces for the girl and then spent the better part of an afternoon calculating the dimensions, square sizes, batting size, border piece sizes and backing size. Then I spent oodles of time in the fabric store one night a couple of weeks ago trying to pick out just the right fabrics. I went with solids because I just couldn't find coordinating prints that I was thrilled about in each of the colors I wanted to use (purple, blue, green and pink).

This first photo is after I have cut all the pattern pieces out. This is the first square that I have ironed and pinned in place!


This is a finished square after the stitching has been done.

This is one complete row, including bottom borders.

Apparently I didn't take any photos of the rest of the assembly part.... Sometimes when my sewing machine and I are together, the world seems to just disappear and the only thing I focus on is the task at hand (that's why I typically sew after the kids have gone to bed at night)!!

This is the completed quilt (the back is lavender flannel) prior to being washed. Yes, you might still see some fabric pen in places - but it's in the wash right now to rid it of those ugly blue markings and to get it all nice and cuddly!

My next project is Rachael's bed skirt, bumper pad and curtains. I just have to wait until my fabric order comes in to get started!