Monday, January 29, 2018

Farmhouse Star Baby Quilt Finish


Farmhouse Star for Baby


There is an indecisive moment just before you start guiding a long arm machine. It's deja vu if you aspire to writing. You have a plan, but a creative muse swoops in and takes over your hands. In the first several seconds of stitching, you are fairly committed. Thread goes down faster than words on a keyboard, and is far more permanent! So went this baby quilt. I had one thing in mind until I stared at the flowers in the border print, and suddenly my original idea disappeared. 





Choosing a Quilting Motif

This is not as simple as it sounds. If you walk in to a long arm studio as a customer, you normally have a choice of a hand guided design or a pantograph. You look through samples, and pick one you like. But if you are the person who has quilted dozens or even hundreds of one design, you start to get a feel of what things 'go'. This is where I am sold on hand guided quilting vs. pantographs. A skilled long armer can easily adjust the scale, individualize borders, etc. It's far more appropriate than one size fits all, but there are cases for both.



While I really had my mind set on another motif, the needle went down, and I saw rocking chairs on a big front porch. The house in my mind sat on a grassy lawn, and ancient hydrangea bushes in full bloom surrounded the wide stairs. I'm grateful the muse knew better.



Details

Backing: The navy blue backing is a Joann's solid wide backing. I split 108" yardage down the middle for 2 baby quilts. Though this quilt is approximately 40" square, a standard fabric width of 42"-44" is not large enough to work with on a long arm. You need a bit of extra width to allow for the side clamps to hold the fabric taut, and be able to move the long arm back and forth without hitting the clamps.

I machine washed and dried the backing before use, and was pleasantly surprised how nicely it turned out. 100% cotton, it only needed touched up with an iron, and no deep creasing you find with some fabrics. All things considered, I will be back to Joann's to consider more colors.

Binding: Deep navy stripe

Thread: Superior Threads So Fine #50

Batting: Warm & Plush from The Warm Company. Warm & Plush has 50% more weight that Warm & White or Warm & Natural. This quilt is for a spring baby, but I loved having a quilt to lay in my strollers for extra padding, or on the floor for tummy time. This baby girl will love it, too.





It's a busy week for babies here!
Come on, Doxie girls.
Let's go sew.

Linking up with~

Show and Tell Monday with Bambi where 
Pink Doxies is featured. Thank you!
And, Freemotion By the River Linky Tuesday
where it was also. Thank you, Connie!
Cooking Up Quilts
Quilter's Monday
Monday Making
Oh, Scrap!
Show Off Saturday
Em's Scrap Bag
Let's Make Baby Quilts
DREAMI
Esther's WOW



21 comments:

Linda Swanekamp said...

I love your descriptions. Especially choosing what to longarm. I have an idea sketched out, and then the machine and I start looking at the quilt closely, and then going off somewhere else. No matter how hard I try, it happens. This is a wonderful quilt. Thanks for the tip on Warm and Plush. My daughter is having her first baby in June, and I think I will use that. Have no idea of the design. Thanks for the thoughtful post.

Mary Huey said...

Love string stars -- I finished up a set of 12 from one of my husband's grandmothers and was so inspired by them, I've gone on to make a couple of my own!

Mary Huey said...

Love this quilt -- I finished up a dozen string star blocks that my husband's grandmother made and was so inspired by them, I made a couple of my own!!

audrey said...

Beautiful quilting motif for this quilt! I almost sighed aloud just at the first picture of this quilt. Love the scrappy, stringy star in that setting and the subtle print stripe border is a lovely addition too. Wonderful finish!

Vivian said...

Great quilt! Thanks for the notes on the batting and the reason -- I have a baby quilt to make soon and love the idea of using a slightly heavier batting so it can be used as a stroller liner too. I'm familiar with Warm and Natural and White but hadn't known about the Plush so will look for that. Also didn't know Joann's had wide backs, will have to check for that too.

Anja @ Anja Quilts said...

Great quilting motif. So glad you went with the new plan.

Sandy Panagos said...

Your muse was absolutely right. This is perfect. I really enjoy your descriptions of your work.

Angie in SoCal said...

Turned out great!

Home Sewn By Us said...

Hi Julie,
Oh, that quilting. it is to die for. So, so, SO nice. ~smile~ Roseanne

Barb Neiwert said...

Fun little quilt, and you're right to listen to your quilting instinct!

helenjean@midgetgemquilts said...

I have been very lazy in blog commenting, but I have been reading. I love stars in any format, and this is great

Cynthia Brunz Designs said...

Cute! The quilting really looks amazing on the back. Thanks for sharing with Oh Scrap!

quiltingbydawn said...

Pretty string star! Cute motif!

Sandra Walker said...

Ddi not know about Warm 'n Plush being that much heavier! Nor about the wide backs at JoAnn's although I see a fair number walking down the aisles,BAD Sandra... snicker. That is one of my favourite meanders to quilt and I 100% agree on the hand guided vs panto quilting. Lovely finish Julie! Glad you listened to the quilt whisperings.

evaj said...

Thank you very much for your link this week to the show and tell you monday !! bambi hug

Rebecca Grace said...

You know, I love these baby star quilts of yours that I spent an entire morning designing my own versions in EQ... Because I have nothing else to do, right?! This is adorable, and I really love how you quilted it. Are you able to do that design totally freehand, without a pantograph pattern? It's so nice and even in density throughout the quilt. Really pretty, and it has a wonderful vintage vibe.

PaintedThread said...

Love the quilting on this. It's such a pretty quilt.

evaj said...

Thank you very much for the link to this week's Show and Tell Monday !! Bambi hug

Christine Slaughter said...

I absolutely love this baby quilt, and the time and thought going into the quilting motif. The quilting is perfect, and that is a motif I'd love to learn to quilt. Beautiful work!

Gosia @ Quilts My Way said...

Wow! What a lovely quilt and absolutely stunning quilting !!

PaintedThread said...

I'm commenting again - I was inspired by the quilting and copied it for my latest quilt. Thanks so much for sharing this.