Baby Boy Circle Quilt



Here's my latest quilt. I made it for my friend Teri's baby boy- Brendan. I've been on a little bit of a circle kick lately, because I think they're cute and fun to make! I used the same method to make the circles as I did for my other circle quilt. Then I used a water-soluble pen to draw grid lines onto the big white piece of fabric, and placed the circles evenly inside the squares. I ironed them on 3 rows at a time and pinned the centers with a safety pin (just in case) and then sewed them on using a blanket stitch.



The animal print is Alexander Henry's 2D Zoo in Pool...I just love this print--and I only have it in one more colorway (it's the brown one) and as soon as i make a quilt out of that one, then I think I can give it a rest! All the circle prints are from various Riley Blake lines, and I don't know why, but I just love them too.



I wasn't planning on putting the 2D zoo on the back because when I first bought it, I only got a little bit and didn't want to buy more because it was a little pricey. But one day I was at Joanns and they were having a big sale so the cut line was really long. As I was waiting in the line, I happened to notice a bolt of this fabric in another girls cart! I thought she must have brought it in with her to match fabrics or something, but I watched, and sure enough, she got some of it cut! It was in the nursery prints section for $10/yard - they had called it something else on the label, but it was the real deal Alex Henry stuff-so I snatched it from the pile of fabrics that were waiting to be put away --and bought a few yards at 50% off! Score!



I debated (for at least 2 days) how to quilt this. I drew tons of little sketches and looked at lots of pictures of circle quilts online, but I couldn't come up with a good plan that wasn't going to take me forever! So in the end I just outlined each circle, and then did a smaller circle in the middle - so it sort of echos the rings that are on most of the fabrics. Then I did something I truly regret! I used stippling around all the circles. WHAT? I know, I know! I strongly dislike stippling. I always have! But I have never tried it on a quilt before, and I was reading this book on quilting backgrounds, and it says that every quilter should have stippling in their bag of tricks (or "in their repertoire" was the wording I think she used). So I decided to try it...and I learned two things: One, I am not very good at stippling, and Two--if I don't like it on other people's quilts, I probably won't like it on one of mine. Momentary lapse in judgment. Well at least now I can say I have tried it!



I bound it in the darkest blue from the animal print, and I can't decide if I like it or not, but it's too late now! Overall I think it turned out pretty well!


Ahhh...baby quilts are fun!