First quilt finish of 2010!

Over the weekend, I finally completed the Project Linus quilt that has been basted since last October.


The design comes from a tutorial offered by Amanda Jean of crazymomquilts, Elia's Quilt. (I'm missing her blog already! *sniff*)


I had a lot of fun trying out a new quilting design on this one. It is from Leah Day's blog, 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting Filler Designs, and is called "Super Daisy." My daisies are far from perfect (or consistent... the flowers have anywhere between 5 and 8 petals), but I think they are fun and I feel like I learned a lot from doing them. I'm excited to try some more of her designs in the future. She's got some great alternatives to the just a plain ol' stipple!


After I washed/dried the quilt, it crinkled up quite nicely. My friend Evelyn commented that she was really surprised at how soft the quilt was, considering all of the dense quilting. The batting is Hobbs Heirloom 100% Organic Cotton.


Another new trick I learned in making this quilt is machine finished binding. Wanting to get the quilt finished up in time for the Project Linus workday, I used the binding tutorial from Red Pepper Quilts (fabulous, fabulous tutorial!), and was really happy with the results, especially considering this was my first attempt. It will take a little bit of practice before my bindings are as pretty and clean as Red Pepper Quilts's. But I'll definitely be using this technique in the future.


The back is a print that I've had in my stash for a few years. I think I still have another 4 yards, so it will probably make another backing appearance in the future.


And, of course, the label. In some ways, it seems kind of weird that I put a label on my donation quilts. But I feel a connection to the quilts I make, as well as pride. I think that if I were ever to receive a quilt from an organization like PL, it would be kind of neat to have a little insight into its origins. And so I label. But I try and keep it simple.

I finished the quilt just in time for the January Project Linus workshop and was able to turn it in then. Woo hoo!