Baby quilt

This is the quilt that has kept me busy for the last few days.

At my son's work they organised to collect fabrics to make a quilt for one of their colleagues who is expecting her first baby.
Not only were there fabrics from work colleagues, but family from overseas contributed pieces to add to the quilt too! :)
With less than 2 weeks before the baby shower I was asked if I would like to put together the quilt.

How could I say no!!

As well as fat quarters and larger and smaller pieces of fabric there are embroidered fabrics, fabric painting and beautifully stitched cross stitch patches, all given in friendship and love.  Some people spent a lot of time creating their contribution. Several squares had signatures and messages added later with a waterproof pen.

I decided to make simple squares since they would be fast to put together. Looking at all the fabrics I had, I decided on a size and started cutting. The smaller pieces where mounted onto a larger piece or had a border added.

With 5 days to go more contributions arrived from overseas, so I added an extra row to the quilt.
The last row has signed handprints from family. I hand appliqued each of the hand shapes.

I chose a light cream fabric with  spots and stars for the backing and a colourful spot for the binding. ( The gender of the baby is not known yet)

The most nerve wracking part for me was the basting! (I usually have huge problems with basting my quilts!!) I didn't want to end up with wrinkles and pleats on the back! I used Sharon Schamber's basting method with two boards and I am very happy to say it was successful first go!!

I finished the last stitch in the binding on Friday afternoon. Woohoo....done on time!

When the quilt was collected on Saturday I was presented with a beautiful bunch of flowers! :)  (you all know how much I love flowers!)

Saturday afternoon was the surprise baby shower. The Mother-to-be, pictured above with her DH, got a wonderful surprise when she saw everyone!

Seeing the photographs of the reactions of the Mother and Father-to-be and everyone looking closely at all the blocks was heart warming. It was a wonderful and humbling experience to be able to put together individual contributions from work colleagues, friends and family from here in Australia and England, and create a quilt for a family to welcome their new baby.

Finished......

...Block one of the Friends of Baltimore is finished!

A few close ups...

I made a couple of changes and used some silk ribbon for flower buds and I beaded the centres of the pink flowers.  I also used metallic star charms for the flag.
Overall I am quite happy with the block, but I know the next block will be easier (and hopefully better) for all I have learned while making this block.

Here are my next 2 Barbara Brackman Civil War blocks.

 I also fixed the block I sewed incorrectly from my last post.

Two of my DD's friends have recently had babies. My DD wanted to make a quilt each for them, so over the last 2 weeks I have been teaching her how to put a quilt together.
She has one almost finished.

I am still having problems with blogger!! I have changed my bloglist settings so that now only the most recent 5 postings are shown. You can still see all the others by clicking on the "show all" tool at the bottom of the bloglist.

Today I am starting my Roseville Album quilt!! :)

Disappearing Nine Patch

My cousin had her first baby recently and I decided to make a quilt. I wanted something I could make quickly and a friend suggested making a disappearing nine patch. I had never made one before, but I am pleased with how it turned out. I love all the bright fabrics! My daughter and I chose the fabrics, although she is the one in the family with the eye for colour! This quilt was pieced and quilted by machine.


These are some black swans, and a few ducks, that I saw while I was out walking yesterday.