Baby Quilt with Applique and Easy Binding

I took an applique class a couple months ago and I finally finished the quilt I started. It is a baby blanket with an adorable teddy bear on it.

I used fusible web to stick the bear on the fabric and then hand stitched a button hole stitch around him.

I wanted to give the teddy bear some depth so that it didn't look like he was just floating in the middle of the quilt. I accomplished this by machine quilting in both horizontal and vertical lines.

I also wanted some areas of the quilt to be puffy so I didn't quilt around eve

ry square.

I finished off with a satin-ish material. I used 3.5 inch strips and ironed about a quarter inch fold along both edges of the material, then I pressed the material in half.

I then "learned as I went" and applied the binding to the out side of my quilt. I probably did it completely wrong, in the traditional sense of binding, but it worked. I used the basic concept formed from looking at the satin finishing on a baby blanket from my childhood. I just looked at how it was sewn on and mimicked it. I don't know if there is a term for this type of finish on a quilt. (If there is and you know it, leave it in the comments).

I am happy with the result. I learned a lot. For example, next time I finish a quilt like this, I will use 5 inch strips. I will also do the corners a bit differently! All in all, I had fun and my baby has a new blanket!

Baby Blanket w/ Multiple Textures

This one is a kit that I bought. I just fell in love with the fabrics! It has a really soft plush material (solid brown) and some neat fabric. I would probably never buy another kit like this though, because they over charge and give you the bear minimum.

For this quilt, I didn't like the fabric they provided for the center so I choose a different one. Plus since I had an extra fabric piece I made this larger than the instructions. I just had to do some simple math and figure out my lengths.

I actually was not the one to make up this new design. Josh (my fiancee) basically designed this quilt for the baby. I let him make all decisions including what to put as backing. He choose an unconventional backing... terry cloth. This way the quilt is multifunctional. It can be a blanket or a towel!

I still have yet to finish quilting this one. It was going to be my first machine quilted quilt, but I needed a walking foot. So this is put on hold until I get one....