Years ago I picked up a little how-to-quilt book at Walmart and made my first quilt. After that full-sized one, I made one baby quilt. And then I guess I got busy and didn’t make time for it and the next thing I knew, it was nearly thirty years later and I decided I’d like to re-learn to quilt. There was that time I made these quilted Christmas stockings the year we adopted the youngest two kids, but that’s not the same as making an actual quilt.

I decided my reintroduction to quilting would be making a watch-me-grow baby quilt for Lindsey’s baby. When the baby arrived a few weeks ahead of schedule, I had to speed things up to get it done!

Y’all meet my newest granddaughter, Journey Quinn Gabriele:

For Journey’s quilt, I used a printed panel by Robert Kaufmann that has the look of appliqué. I was drawn to this design because Lindsey’s theme for little Journey is butterflies. It’s even more perfect because big sis Khloe calls her “my baby princess.” Cuteness. Overload.

I quilted the entire thing by hand, and attached pre-made binding by hand. I marathon-quilted for 3 days after Journey was born so I could get it delivered by her one week birthday.

My hand was tired, y’all.

It’s not perfect but I’m tickled with how it came out and it was great practice for hand-quilting.

I’m giving my stitching fingers a couple of weeks off and then I’ll start another quilting project. I already have it all planned.

If you quilt or want to pretend you do, you might enjoy these sweet books written around the theme. They helped fuel my newly rekindled interest. I’ve read the first two in the Cobbled Court Quilts series and just discovered there are 3 more in the series. There’s also the Elm Creek Quilts series, which has twenty-one books, though I’ve only read one so far.

I’ll be posting when I feel inspired and make no promises what the topics may be — but if you’re here, hello and thanks for reading.

Jamie

Wife, mom, J-ma. Introvert who enjoys good books, sunshine, and authentic conversation. Often seen with a steaming mug of tea in hand – unless it’s lost yet again in the microwave. Read more »