Gracie's Herringbone Baby Quilt

When thinking of my friend Megan, I can choose a variety of amazing memories that we have made together. We've traveled and ate our way around various cities and ballparks, invented the very popular "pre-dinner" (where we stop for tacos before the actual dinner) and regularly discuss our love for baseball, Liz Lemon, Idaho and Netflix. She's supportive of my work, always offers her encouragement and never gives up on me when life gets busy.

After getting married last summer to her love Obi, I knew a baby would join their New Jersey family of Paprika, their puppy and Beula, the only cat I've ever cared for.

We are both obsessive Pinterest pinners, so when she sent me this pin from Hyacinth Quilt Designs,
"Keep this in mind for a baby quilt"
I had to laugh because I had already pinned the same quilt. 

After the gender reveal, Megan finalized her colors for the nursery. She was having a baby girl, and Gracie would be her name. Bright pinks, oranges, yellows and grays would enhance her classy Dr. Seuss theme.Megan has a great eye for detail (she's an amazingly talented graphic designer and photographer) and it's been exciting to be a part of her nursery design.   

With gray and white as the neutrals in the quilt, the colored rows would really pop! I choose fun, bold prints from the Lillified line from Benartex.

I used my standard rotary ruler to cut the material at a 4 degree angle. I sewed white cotton strips between each color and then repeated the process over and over again. 

After finishing the top, I loaded the quilt onto my Handi Quilter and used the channel lock to achieve the "matchstick" quilting effect. There wasn't a pattern per say, I used mostly white thread and then incorporated the colors into the gray area. I wanted to bring the color all over the quilt and break up the gray more. It made it feel more whimsical, but still sharp, like  Dr. Seuss. 

The next step was to create a custom label for baby Gracie's quilt in my V7 Bernina software, and then using my Bernina 830, I embroidered it. 
I hand stitched the label to the back of the quilt and then hand stitched the binding in place. 

I absolutely love how this turned out. It's a great mixture of a whimsy and structure - just like Megan herself. She is a very focus individual, a go-getter but does everything with heart and sense of humor. I love her and can't wait to meet this gorgeous little one!


Now here's all the photos of the finished Gracie's Herringbone baby quilt: