Lucys Quilt

Lucys Quilt
Originally uploaded by bethvanduzer

On the Sew Mama Sew forum a fellow sewer was looking for an easy pattern for a first quilt. This was the first quilt I ever sewed. It was for my daughter. I returned to work when she was 13 months old. Before I went back I started this quilt so she would have something to remember me by while at daycare. This quilt was washed at least once a week for 2 1/2 years - until I quit my job and took her out of daycare.

The quilt was just a bunch of fabrics I picked up at either Wal-mart or Joann's. A lot of them were 1/4 yard cuts. The yellow border with the red cherries is also the fabric I used for the backing - it is a Mary Engelbreit fabric. I actually have three different cherry fabrics on this quilt - my husband likes cherries.

The only rule for putting this together - try not to have two of the same fabrics touching. I should have used more fabrics but this was my first and I had no clue as to how much fabric to buy or how many squares I needed. I believe I decided on five inch squares because the batting recommends quilting every five or six inches. So - squares a little smaller than that would mean I would only have to stitch in the ditch. Much less intimidating to me to do that.

The binding is what took the longest. I think binding is something you need to do a lot of before you get it right. And, once you do, you will be able to whip bindings onto quilts, and other projects, at lightning speeds - or at least faster than I do by looking in my Quilting for Dummies book wondering - what was I folding where?

I kept waiting for the sun to come out (and stay out) today but it kept evading me. So, here I am, after I get the kids to bed, hanging it in the bathroom - at least the tub is clean.