Sorbet baby quilt: A finish!

Last week, I finally managed to finish up the Sorbet baby quilt, and our gorgeous spring weather this weekend let me get a few good pics, so here she is!

This one took a surprisingly long time to get together, not because it was difficult but just because I couldn't seem to find enough time. It didn't help that QuiltCon and spring break fell in the middle of everything, plus the sewing down time I had waiting for my new sewing machine to arrive after QC. Anyway, she's done now, and I love her!

The colors were pulled from the backing fabric, which is this darling print from Wee Wander. So cute and perfect for a little girl. Most of the fabrics were from my stash, a mix of pinks, coral, and aquas, along with a lot of low volume.

The quilt is based on the Sorbet Mini Quilt from Vintage Quilt Revival, but I bumped up the number and size of the squares to make it bigger. I used a total of 100 HSTs (from original squares measuring 4.5"), and the quilt finished at about 36" square.

This was the first quilt I quilted on my new Janome Skyline, and it was awesome. Such a different experience! I didn't even realize how big a difference this new machine was going to make, but now I'm not sure I could ever go back. I love her!

I used white thread to quilt wavy lines on the diagonal, cutting through the middle and along the outside edge of each HST. This was all done using my walking foot, and it was so fast and easy! I'd seen several other bloggers use a similar technique, but they all had Berninas, so I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it on my Janome. Not a problem. In case you're interested, the settings on my Skyline are Mode 2, Stitch 1, Stitch Width 7.0, and Stitch Length 3.0 (screenshot below).

This was also the first quilt on which I used my new labels! I won these from a giveaway on Fresh Lemons Quilts a few months back. They are from Custom Labels 4U, and they work great. I don't care for the look of flat labels sewn to the backing of a quilt, but these little guys tuck nicely into the binding, which is just about right for me.

For the binding, I used a light gray print with a white swirl. I wanted it to be a bit darker than the low volumes so it created a border, but I didn't want it to stand out too much. It's hard to see in these photos, but I also inserted a small strip of the light aqua solid. It was all bound my machine using my normal method (attach the binding to the front of the quilt, pull the binding around to the back and pin or clip it in place, then stitch in the ditch on the front of the quilt right alongside the binding to catch it on the back). Works like a charm.

She will soon be off to her new home, and I'm pretty sad to let this one go. She's brought a lot of cheer to my sewing room over the last few weeks. I think I'm going to have to find another project for this color combination soon.