It's Finished!

I finished the quilt for little Lena, and here it is...

It is a 45" square. I used the idea from Bo Peep to add the ribbon border. The purple check is threaded through the border and tied on each end. It is removeable, and put on after the quilt top is finished.

A close up of the little critter.

Also, a close up of her name in the bottom right corner.

I quilted this quilt myself, and I thought I would share a couple pictures to show others how I do it. First I tape the quilt back to the floor with masking tape, making sure that the fabric is smooth with no wrinkles. I add the batting and quilt top. I start at the bottom, after centering the quilt top, using a long needle that is pretty tough - run a basting stitch through all three layers with hand quilting thread, in the same color family (light or dark). You will remove this stitch when you finish the quilting. It is there to hold it all together while you quilt it. The basting stitch is about 2" in length. Each line of stitching is about 3-4" apart. When I finish, I remove the tape and quilt it with my home machine. I think that it holds together well, and the back stays pretty tight with no wrinkles while quilting.

Just thought actually seeing the process may make it less scary to attempt yourself. I had to start this out of desperation. Little projects like this one that have to be finished yesterday, are next to impossible to get to a quilter to quilt being so close to Christmas! It is nice to be able to finish yourself and save the wait time, not to mention the money!