Baby Eli

As I have shared with you, there have been a lot of pregnant teachers at work this past year. As of a few weeks ago, there are none. Our last pregnant teacher, Amy, gave birth to a very small and very early baby boy, Elijah. He wasn't supposed to greet the world until October, but due to some complications, he has graced us with his presence 2 months early. Luckily, both Amy and Eli are doing well, although Eli is not ready to go home just yet. I just got back from Amy's surprise baby shower at the hospital and we learned that Eli is gaining weight and is now out of the isolete and into his own bed. He just needs to gain the ability to eat on his own. which the doctors say should be soon, and he will be home with mommy and daddy!

Here is baby Eli's quilt, Amy's favorite colors (mine too.) It is, of course, a new favorite quilt of mine, and Amy loved it!

 

I got my inspiration for this quilt from Oh Fransson's 12 + 2 = Q. I love that this quilt didn't take a lot of fabric, and was so fast to put together! 

I used some random fabric prints I had lying around in my stash, stuff I have bought for other projects and changed my mind, so it was exciting to cut into this fabric. The green fabric with polka dots came from JoAnn's and I had intended to use it for one of my first quilts as a back, but it was too wild for that quilt. It ties everything together on this quilt and I had enough to use it on the front, back and as the binding.  :)

I stepped out of my comfort zone with the quilting and did straight line quilting 1/4" away from the seams of the blocks of fabric. I love the grid lines it made, it mimics the plaid brown fabric in the quilt perfectly.

I think doing the straight line quilting was really pretty quick, but it was definately out of my comfort zone. I laid out some painters tape to be my guide, and was worried that my lines would be crooked. They turned out pretty straight, but my stitches weren't even, some are smaller than others. I think this is because I would get bored and push harder on my pedal, hoping the tedious lines would be done faster.

While quilting this quilt I learned that no matter how tight you think you pulled your fabrics before basting, you need to pull tighter for straight line quilting. This row of blocks moved as I stitched, making it a little crooked. Now I know for next time. It will be awhile before I decide to straight line quilt a larger quilt than a baby quilt!

Finished this little quilt is approximately 32" square. Little Eli will get a lot of use out of it, it's the perfect size for such a little guy. Welcome to the world, baby Eli!