Baby Megan's Whirlygiggles

Note to all the babies-to-be I know (or will soon meet): If you are born in the month of December, or even in early January, your baby quilt will be late.  Please plan accordingly.


I have just (finally!) finished a baby quilt for my first little niece, Megan.  She was born in mid-December but I was so buried in Christmas gift making, other projects and a broken hand (in a brace for a few weeks in January) that I'm just now finishing up her quilt.  I had the fabric well in advance and knew what colors I'd use, I just didn't make the time to put it all together.

I *so* badly wanted to take fabulous pictures of this outside in the beautiful South Florida sun but alas, 

it has been overcast and dreary here for 3 days.

As usual, I started with a pattern I liked (I used AmandaJean's Whirlygiggles - she has a great tutorial here) and then added a few things of my own.  Of course, I changed the measurements some (started with smaller blocks), cut some of the fabric upside down (Doh!) and ended up with fewer, smaller whirlies than I had planned.  Oh well... I still think it came out great and I will most definitely use my "backwards" whirlies for another project.

The white background fabric (with the flowers and ladybugs) is from a crib sheet.  Megan's mom (my sister-in-law) had this on her baby registry so I was pretty sure she'd like it!  I put Megan's name on the quilt with big appliqued letters and added an embroidered quilt tag with her birth stats.  

This was my very first time trying free motion quilting.  I am SOOO excited about it!  I clearly have a lot to learn in terms of FMQ patterns.... I went with a pattern I'm calling "seaweed" because I think it looks like those underwater plant tentacle thingies (yes, pretty sure that's the scientific name) you see on Finding Nemo.  (I'm actually hoping someone will tell me this is a real FMQ pattern and it has a real name.... that way I'll feel like I did FMQ the right way, even if it was only by accident!)

The FMQ made the quilt a little "stiffer" than I'm used to (I've only used stitch-in-the-ditch or other straight line quilting in the past), but I am in *love* with the "pucker" that the FMQ gave it after it was washed and dried.

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Linking up (for the very first time!) with: 

Crazy Mom Quilts for  "Finish it Up Friday" 

Confessions of a Fabric Addict for "Whoop Whoop Friday"

AmyLouWho for "Sew and Tell"

~*~ May your day be full of Love and Ladybug Hugs ~*~