I am getting SO close to being caught up on all of the quilts on my “to sew” list! I made my very first quilt ever for my niece Charlotte, who is now almost 4. She was my first niece and I was SO excited for Paul and Amelia to have a cousin. And when you set that kind gift precedent I feel like you should really follow through. Charlotte’s quilt was done by her baby shower (how I was so on top of things back when Paul and Amelia were a year old is kind of a mystery to me) but subsequent quilts haven’t been quite as timely. Cataleia is almost 6 months old now, so let’s just call this her half birthday gift? I still owe Raylan a quilt too, but once I finish that (oh, well, and Edith’s baby clothes quilt as well) I will be caught up. At least until I have another new niece or nephew.

Cataleia’s quilt might be my favorite strip quilt to date. I decided to finally start using some of my infinite scrap pile instead of buying all new fabrics, and I’m excited about how well some of them went together, even though I might not have chosen them if I were standing in the store. Ben likes to make fun of me for going out to buy big long yards of fabric only to cut them up and reconfigure them again… so here you go. An honest to goodness QUILT in the spirit of original quiliting – using up all the scraps to make something larger and more beautiful. I also couldn’t bear to leave the back as a whole cloth so I decided to add a bit of scrap in the middle and a blank strip so I could test out my newest idea – a painted label. I am much more confident at painting than I am at embroidery, so I figured I might as well give it a shot. I’m happy with how it turned out! This is also my second attempt at a pillowcase finish. I love quilting but I do not love making bias binding. I also really, really don’t like store bought binding. Pillowcase finishing is letting me skip my least favorite step and as a bonus I think it’s actually an attractive and more modern finish (at least I tell myself it’s that and not just laziness, what do you think? Yay or nay on pillowcase finishing?)

So without further ado – a quilt for Cataleia! Fresh from the dryer and so cozy! You really can’t beat a brand new quilt…

I realized as I was typing this up that I never shared Abe or Natalie’s quilts either… time to dig those up from the archive for more quilt sharing!