DIY Project: Elephants & Dots Baby Quilt

In early 2012, I decided to finally tackle something that had been on my Bucket List for years, and throughout this past year, using pure improvisation and stubbornness, I've slowly taught myself to make quilts. It seems fitting that I finished one of my favorite quilts I've made so far, on the last day of this year.

I started with this absolutely adorable, organic fabric line from Birch Fabrics, in a coordinating mix of gray, white, teal and soft aqua.

I really love the mix of colors and prints in this line! It's so gorgeous! 

After waffling back and forth for a couple of days over the quilt top design, I eventually decided to go with a simple wide stripe design, very similar to my last quilt, in a reverse ascending/descending pattern. I started this cute little quilt last night, cut, pieced, and quilted it, and then made and finished the binding this morning. 

I used the gray solid from the quilt top for the backing, adding a simple initial in the bottom, right corner for a little pop of color and personalization (this quilt is another gift). 

This time, instead of regular appliqué for the personalization, I opted to sew the H from two layers of solid teal, right sides in, then turning it right side out, pressing, and attaching it with a simple top stitch around the edge, before I added the quilting. I do hope it will be durable enough this way, as I really like this look. 

For the binding, I first folded the overhanging backing fabric over the edge, then added a homemade double binding on top of that. I made the binding using left over aqua solid from the quilt top.

I love the thin edge of gray peeking out from under the aqua binding! In fact, I absolutely LOVE this little quilt! It's been so fun figuring out how to do this this past year, and I love seeing improvements in my technique with each completed project.

I really hope cute little H gets a lot of use out of this cuddly little quilt!

*All photos are taken pre-wash, and the quilt is a lot more crinkly and puffy post-wash, but I forgot to retake them after it came out of the dryer, and now I've already packed it to ship.

Fabric:

Quilt top:
Jay-Cyn Designs for Birch Fabric Organic, Mod Basics, Ellie Fam in Shroom, Teal and Pool
Jay-Cyn Designs for Birch Fabric Organic, Mod Solids in Teal, Pool, Shroom, and White

Quilt back:
Yay-Cyn Designs for Birch Fabric Organic, Mod Solids in Shroom and Teal

Binding:
Jay-Cyn Designs for Birch Fabric Organic, Mod Solids in Pool