Ella's Baby Quilt

In that same issue of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine there was another quilt I wanted to make. The difference is-this one had a deadline. My daughter was pregnant and this pattern just cried out to be the next baby quilt. 

Now and Later quilt from October 2011 

American Patchwork and Quilting magazine

My daughter is as much into light and bright colors as I am into muted hues. She picked out Gypsy Bandana designed by Pillow and Maxfield for Michael Miller. Here is the paisley print she fell in love with!

The quilt was really easy to assemble-lots of chain piecing and slicing. The top went together quickly. I quilted it on my Bernina with a preset wavy stitch that crossed back and forth over "the ditch". When it came time to quilt the border I moved to my HQ Sweet Sixteen. I decided that a swirly flower would be cute in the border, so I made my own pattern and traced it on with an air-disappearing pen. It took me all afternoon and into the evening to mark the borders, adjusting for corners. I was so pleased with myself and the next day I was going to take the quilt with me to show a friend how I was going to stitch the borders. I walked into my quilt room the next morning and SCREAMED in horror! All of my hard work tracing the border had air-disappeared over night!! I wanted to cry-I was so disappointed! 

I remarked the border and stitched immediately. I had learned my lesson. :) I am still learning to use my Sweet Sixteen-keeping stitches as even as possible and following a pattern. I was very pleased with the way the quilt came out and it suits little miss Ella to a tee.