Ins and Outs: Baby Sellman

 

My sweet friend Jessica is having her second baby in August. The new baby will be a wonderful addition to their family. As with her first child, (Dane, an amazing nine year old) Jessica and her new husband Jake have decided to find out the gender of the child at the birth.

I like the idea of not knowing for the simple fact of not buying into the typical "pink for a girl" or "blue for a boy" stereotypes. I also wanted to stay away from the generic, "here's your yellow and green quilt...since we don't know what you're having..."

Starting with 1/2 yd of four different Riley Blake prints, (which jumped out at me for Jessica. Adorable, but not kitschy, and classic)

I cut 6" x 8" squares, and 3" strips of the fabric to make each of the blocks. Adding skinny 1 1/2" white sashing between the blocks and 5" border pieces to join the rows, really made the squares pop!

After I completed the top, I added a neutral backing and quilted it on my Handi Quilter long arm machine with an all over bubble pattern.

 

After quilting it, I added a pieced binding with the leftover strips. I opted to not hand stitch the binding. With baby quilts, I know they get laundered frequently, so a stronger, machine stitched binding was the best way to go.  

 

This was such a fun quilt to make for a baby that I can't wait to meet. I know she or he will be loved so much and will have a wonderful life in a lovely family.

Here's the finished quilt!