Riley's Quilt

Here is a quilt I just finished for Riley. Riley is the daughter of one of my daughter's friends in San Francisco. She is about a year old and I finally am getting her quilt finished.

At the baby shower last year, Christina gave the guests a 5 inch square of white and some fabric pens. They all decorated a block for Riley, who was not born yet. They didn't just sign their names but decorated the blocks with pictures and words.

After the shower, Christina sent me the blocks and a few scraps of fabric with the pink and green that were going to be used for her bedroom. There were 27 blocks which created my first problem - how do you set 27 blocks into a quilt. Then I couldn't decide on fabrics to use. I decided to border each of the blocks with color but just couldn't find the right fabrics to use.

Finally, I found a fat quarter pack that was perfect. It had 4 pink, 4 green and a couple of purple fat quarters. The pink and green coordinated well with the fabric scraps that were sent to me.

The next problem was the 27 blocks. I finally decided that I could applique her name at the top of the quilt in a block that would measure the same as 3 blocks. That allowed me to set it 5 blocks wide by 6 blocks long. Making progress.

I put the blocks together and then tried to decide on a border for the quilt. I looked at every pink or green fabric we had at the shop and finally found one that would work. I bought enough for the border and backing. The next morning, I started to cut the fabric for the borders and realized that the fabric I bought was breast cancer fabric with small pink ribbons on it - not good for a baby quilt.

Of course, I went back to the shop (at least I now am ready to make a breast cancer quilt when needed) to look for something that would work. After putting the quilt against almost every bolt in the store, I realized that it really didn't need a border - it was finished as is.

I then found a pink and white checked Minky for the back of the quilt and got it quilted today so I can take it with me when I go to San Francisco on Friday. I love the look of Minky after it is quilted and this one is really nice. I will try to get a picture of Riley with her quilt next week.

I just reviewed my photos and see that there is a block that is upside down - I can't believe that I did that! Oh well, it doesn't how up as much in person and it was a square that didn't really have a top side so it will have to stay there. I am not going to take out the quilting!!!