Franki's Baby Quilt

I made this quilt for my friend Franki, who is having a baby next month:  "Mia." 

She wanted Pink and Green, so I dug through my pinnk and green scraps.  The piecing for the front and back I kept relatively simple, but I went crazy with the quilting.   my favorite part ;c)

Here is the front and back before sandwiching. 

 I divided the quilt up in diamonds and wanted a 1/2' puffy line between each quilting motif.  In the above photo I had just finished the trapunto for Mia's name, the pebbling in the 1st section, and half the feathers in the 2nd section.

Here I had just finished all the quilting.  

Before trimming and binding.  

Closeup of the quilting. 

 andddd. . front and back finished!

All of the quilting was done with NEW Aurifil polyester longarm thread.  The pastel variegated thread looked perfect against the pink and green fabrics.   . . used in the top AND bobbin.

New baby quilt finished

I'd like to share with you a project I've been working on or the past few days.

This quilt is a 3-generations baby quilt. I trapuntod the 3 lady's names in the inner grey sashing and the year the youngest baby was born (2012.)

The Fabric I used for this quilt is all by "Ritzy" except for the inner grey border which is "Etchings" and the backing fabric which is "Lily & Will."

Thread is light grey Aurifil, Light Pink Mettler, and Dark Grey Connecting Threads.

I messed up on a block. . WHOOPS!

Finished TOP!

Then, using a water-soluble marker I write what I want to Trapunto on the top side of the quilt.

I used several layers of high-loft battting and pin it to the back. Then with a free-motion foot I quilt around the lines I drew. You can use water-soluble thread or thread to match the quilt top or invisible thread. Then *very carefully* you cut aroundd the edges of the batting. This takes quite a long time ;c) You have to be very careful NOT to cut into the quilt top.

Then starting from the outside edges and working inward, you densely quilt up to the edges of your text or shape you want to stick out.

I used a kind of figure-8 design. . because I've decided I'm no good at microstippling. WHO CARES of lines are crossed! ;c) you just want to realllllly get that area quilted as much as possible. . you can just squiggle all over the place if you want.

Here's the 4 areas with trapunto finished:

Center of the quilt all quilted:

Here's a closeup of the center - I did my version of McTavishing in the white areas of the Ohio Star blocks and then outline quilted in the pink areas (star areas.)

Shot of the back:

I love the look of the sun shining through a quilt - you can see all the seam allowances and it looks really cool to me.

I did a sort of squiggle in the inner grey border and a half feather in the outer border. I only had time to do a half feather. . I know this would have looked much better with a full feather.