Baby Oliver's Quilt

Our dear friends recently had their second child, a beautiful baby boy named Oliver. They didn't find out whether they were having a boy or a girl, so when I decided to make a baby quilt to give them upon baby's arrival, I really tried to make it gender neutral. I tend to prefer deeper colors for baby quilts, but I was afraid it would look too boyish or girly, so I went with pastels instead.

I only had a little bit of the Japanese nursery rhyme fabric that I had ordered for the Monkey's burp rags left, so I decided to make that the center of the blocks. The rest of the fabric I used was left over from the very first quilt I made (a gift for another friend's baby, which I'll share some other time). I had previously trimmed the pastel prints down to 2 and 4" strips, so piecing the quilt top went really fast.

I decided to try my hand at freehand quilting with this quilt top, and, to my surprise, it was a lot of fun (but I need lots more practice!). I tried making loops and squiggles, but I think I went a little crazy and it ended up being a little too densely quilted. I like a little bit of texture, but after washing the quilt, it was just too crinkly for my taste.

Still, I really like how it turned out, even if it's all pastels and too densely quilted. I decided to back it with minky fabric, and used Amanda Jean's tutorial (for the most part). The only difference is that I ended up not using binding, but rather top stitching all around the perimeter of the quilt after attaching the backing. I would have loved to add a pretty binding, but, as it turns out, Oliver couldn't wait to meet his family and he arrived 3 weeks early.

The best part about him arriving early? He was able to come to his own baby shower and take his new quilt and bunny home with him. :)