A finished baby quilt

I know of three babies due to be born from November to January next year so I am trying to build my stash of baby quilts.  I have a few baby girl ones but no boy quilts.

When I was in New Zealand earlier in the year I was given a patchwork magazine from 2007 which included a pattern for a baby quilt.  It was by Ruth Buchanan and the quilt was called Fairy Lights.

I loved the pattern as it showcased a pretty fabric and was surrounded by HSTs which I always enjoy making.

The Pattern:

 

 

About two years ago my Patchwork Group went on an outing to a favourite Quilt Shop, The Bramble Patch in Weedon, Northamptonshire.  I bought a lovely selection of fabrics and some yellow Fat Quarters which I thought went with the fabrics I had chosen.  The quilt I had in mind didn't materialise so the bag of fabrics languished in my sewing cupboard.

 

Fast forward to a month or so ago when I was thinking of ideas for Boy Quilts and I suddenly remembered my stash of yellow, grey and blue fabrics. Perfect for a boy and perfect for the Fairy Lights pattern as I wanted to showcase the gorgeous elephants (I love elephants!), trains, cars and rows of fairy mushrooms.

 

I set to, made all the blocks without difficulty and then laid them out in a pleasing order.  That was when I discovered my mistake.  The fabric Ruth Buchanan had used was a non-directional design.  All my blocks had directional patterns!  Oh dear!  I put my thinking cap on and realised I would have to add extra strips of HSTs to the fourth side of each block.  more sewing but I am happy with the result.  I didn't have to buy any more fabric as I had enough in my stash for the extra HSTs and the border and backing fabrics were ones I had bought at the Festival Of Quilts back in August.

 

As I had added extra strips my quilt came out at 42" square, a bit larger than the pattern.  I think this is a useful size - big enough to wrap baby in, use on the Moses basket or later on the cot and is a great size for a playmat.

 

 

 

As the pattern was so busy I decided to machine quilt in the ditch.  Although I have been quilting since 1997 this is only the third quilt I have machine quilted.  It's not perfect but it's not too bad either. I'm happy with it anyway!

 

And here it is - my Boy Version of the Fairy Lights quilt:

 

 

 

And a glimpse of the backing:

 

Now I have to think of a name for the quilt.  I don't think Fairy Lights is quite right for this quilt!

Any suggestions will be very welcome.  No idea springs to mind at present.

I have already used the scraps of elephants, cars and mushrooms fabrics in another boy quilt top - strips this time.  It is now ready for sandwiching and I am going to hand quilt this one.   It will be my handwork project to take to my Patchwork Group.

Off to sandwich the quilt top.  Not my favourite part of making a quilt as it involves me crawling around on the floor in my Sewing Room!