Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The Real Deal

This past weekend was my sister-in-law's baby shower.  She's expecting a little girl in mid-September.   She asked me to make the bedding for her purple and yellow themed nursery- specifically the quilt and the bumper.

I found a couple fat quarter bundles of this fabric at JoAnn's and supplemented with some yardage from a local quilt shop.  I sat for awhile trying to determine a good pattern for a two-color quilt.  It was much more difficult than I expected.  So, I threw a couple green accent prints in and after making a trial quilt top, I made the quilt.


I made the squares a little larger so I could make it more of an oversized baby quilt.  I wanted it to be able to usable for longer than the itty bitty baby stage.  I also decided to back the quilt in super soft minky and do minimal quilting.  This kept the quilt really snuggly and cozy. 


I'm pretty happy with the finished product.


For the bumper, I used the pattern in Little Stitches for Little Ones by Amy Butler.  I have actually not had a lot of luck with Amy Butler sewing patterns in the past, so I was surprised that this came together pretty well.  My only issue was that it told me to see page 172 to make the ties, but I had not photocopied that page before I returned the book from to library.  Who would have thought my pattern instructions on pages 36 and 37 would send me to 172?  I'm pretty sure I didn't make the ties as the pattern would have instructed because they ended up being a lot of work.  I think they look pretty nice though, so no complaints here.


I liked the pattern because it had you make pockets on the inside of the bumper panels.  The pattern is written to have pockets on both of the long sides of the crib, however, I decided to only have them on one side.  It would have been an extra yard of fabric and I didn't think it the pockets on both sides would be used at the same time anyway.


All in all, I'm happy with how the bedding turned out.  I can't wait for my niece to arrive so I can see it in action!

9 comments:

Sunshine said...

Beautiful, how neat to make the same pattern twice and see the difference that colour/pattern choice makes!

Did you do the wavy quilting free-hand? It looks amazingly even from here! (and I'm pretty far away from the quilt, but hey ;)

Cheers,
Christine

GreenStyleMom said...

Cute, cute! I'm working on a baby quilt and was just wondering what I should use for the back. I'm going to follow your lead with the minky. Thanks for the inspiration!

Leslie said...

this looks so beautiful!! i love the colors together...the bumper is gorgeous. i am thinking i might have to make my own since i can not find what i want so thanks for letting us know where you found it.

Terriaw said...

I think I have a couple of those same prints but in a blue-green colorway. Love them! This is such a beautiful quilt, especially as a gift. I love that you made it an oversized baby quilt so they can continue to use it as the baby grows.

Elena said...

Nice work on both! I was looking at that bumper pattern myself and was trying to figure out the yardage without doing any pockets at all. Did you use those bumper pad inserts you buy? I've heard people use those or stuff with poly-fil. I like both looks equally.

April said...

It's fantastic. You did such a great job!

jan said...

Nieces are the BEST!! Congrats on yours. Love the quilt and bumper( pockets on the bumper are a bonus!).

Candace said...

Everything turned out beautifully and with the minkee it will be especially cuddly.

Rebekah said...

this is adorable! I think the purple and yellow look great together.

Your bumper looks amazing!