"Shades of Beautiful"

Finished just in time for my friend's baby shower:

Woo!

I used a mix of pinks/fuchsias and greys to coordinate with the baby's nursery colors. The pattern is by Elizabeth Hartman (of Oh, Fransson! fame). One of her free designs, this one is called the "Birthday Cake Quilt." It is a great pattern-- the instructions are clear, accurate, and easy to follow. One thing I can say about Ms. Hartman though is that she does NOT waste fabric! Beware if your fat quarter does not measure at least 18" in width. Other than that, the pattern was awesome. I really love the look. And it was so fun to work with some super-girly colors!

Ms. Hartman has been posting some finished quilts lately featuring quilting inspired by the book, Free-Motion Quilting with Angela Walters: Choose & Use Quilting Designs on Modern Quilts. After seeing those quilts, I immediately went and got a copy of the book. And the quilting design I chose for this quilt is from that book-- the design is named "Paisley." I knew I wanted something curvy and feminine to balance with all of the straight lines in the pattern, and "Paisley" fit the bill perfectly. It was a lot of fun to quilt, and I am over-the-moon with how well it turned out. I used a Quilter's Dream cotton batting and Aurifil Mako 50/2 thread in a light grey color (#2600).

Time was short, so I ended up doing a machine binding (following the fabulous Red Pepper Quilts tutorial). It turned out really nicely.

At the time of baby's conception, her mama was very much enjoying the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy by E.L. James. And the quilt has a lot of grey. Many shades, in fact. So I went ahead and named it "Shades of Beautiful." I'm not sure if mama will make the connection, but maybe that's for the best. LOL!

This quilt was a lot of fun to put together. I hope mama and baby both enjoy it as much as I enjoyed its making.