The Birth Day Cake...quilt

I just finished up a gift for my friend's new baby. I'm not much of a quilter - I maybe make one quilt a year. But when little Bo was born, I knew that he needed a quilt. I made his parents a quilt when they got married - it was the second quilt I ever made!

I looked around and decided on Elizabeth Hartman's Birthday Cake quilt. Her website is down, so I don't have the link...

But here's the finished quilt!

His mom and I looked at a lot of fabric online and decided on these. It's very wilderness! I made some pattern modifications: (1) I used yardage rather than fat quarters...only because that's all I could buy - so I used four brown and four blue (rather than five), (2) I made it (almost) crib sized - so it's 36" x 56" - there are fewer blocks, 3) I placed the blocks in a pattern, and (4) because of that, I had to cut a specific number of blocks out of each piece of fabric. 

I also had quite a bit left over, so I pieced the back.

The white fabric on the bottom is one yard of some extra fabric that I bought. It looked better on the back. I quilted it myself, so I really had to work to get the back even...and it was! I know a pieced back is a longarmer's worst nightmare!

 

I did a lot of straight stitching when I quilted it. I also used polyester batting - Warm and Bright. I learned that baby quilts take a lot of beating, so poly batting holds up better. I was worried about the draping, but after I washed it, it wasn't so stiff. 

Here's my assessment of the pattern. I love the design and it was really easy to modify. I hate cutting and there's a lot of cutting - you make the blocks then cut them to the correct size; this makes for an even quilt...but...cutting...ick.

Overall, I have to say that I enjoy baby quilts...they are small, easy to put together, and manageable to quilt! Plus, it's such fun fabric, who could resist!?