I am all about spreading the quilting love.  When my friend Ashley mentioned that she had a quilt all cut out but that she didn’t really know what to do next, I really wanted to sew with her and see if I could give her some guidance.  That, combined with a mutual friend from church that is having a baby in May, we decided to make a baby quilt together.I was inspired by Handmade by Alissa’s Queen Baby Quilt but we made ours with log cabin blocks.  I grabbed my scrap bins of blue, green, brown, and grey/black and we went for it, making two each.  We then surrounded it in Kona cotton in slate (love that color!) and I threw together a back and quilted it in straight lines that walk around the blocks.I thought that simple would be easy but as it turns out, all that negative space was hard to deal with!  The basting had to be redone a couple of times and shhhh… there’s still a few puckers and shifts in it.  But a good run through the washer and dryer does wonders!Erin and her husband Austin are excited to welcome their baby Silas in just a couple weeks.  I met them through my friend and coworker Philip, and now we all go to church together (occasionally) and are in a small group.  They are so very, very graciously letting me live with them right now in a time of transition.

I don’t always get very personal on my blog but things in my life have changed a lot in the last few months.  I ended a long term relationship and am learning a lot about myself.  I’ve been surrounded by wonderful friends and I am especially thankful for Austin and Erin’s support, their prayers, and all their encouragement.

So back to the quilt, Ashley and I finally gave it to them at a picnic this week and it was received with many squeals, hugs, and thanks.  It was just the reaction we were hoping for.

The front, as I mentioned, is scraps set in Kona cotton in slate.  It’s backed with more scraps and a geometric print I bought at JoAnns a couple years ago, which coincidentally, Erin made curtains out of at the house!  I quilted each block with a square spiral in different color thread and echo quilted the blocks with walking lines in a pale blue/grey thread, it’s bound in Amy Butler’s oxford stripe from the Belle collection, and simply labeled.

I can’t wait to show off pictures of their little guy bundled up in this quilt!