My Baby

So both Ella and Henry have their special blankets that they sleep with each night.  Ella's is made from minky fabric and came with her crib bedding set, and is named 'cozy'.  I made Henry's when he was about 6 months old and I felt bad for him because he didn't have a super soft, thick blanket.  I used flannel and some minky-ish fabric.  His is name 'wankie'.

So, of course, No. 3 needed a special blanket.  Awhile ago, I'd pinned a beautiful herringbone quilt that seemed easy enough to make; just triangles pieced together.  I had a garage sale a few months back and used that time of just sitting in the garage and watching my ankles swell {sitting is what does it for me} to get started.  I used white flannel, and then was mad because I couldn't find gray flannel.  I was scared to order it online because I'm crazy picky about gray.  So I just used some Kona cotton.

I used 8x8 squares {cut into triangles}, and then after I had the front completely done, I decided to start over.  I know it seems crazy to start over after all that work, but two things:  1. I found some gray flannel locally, and really wanted the whole front to be flannel, and 2. I really wanted the pattern to be smaller.  I know myself well enough to know that if I didn't *love* it, I'd spend the next 10+ years staring at my kid snuggling with it, wishing I'd just started over.

So I did, using 5x5 squares, and flannel for both the white and gray.  Soooo much better.  For the back, I just used some minky fabric, and I didn't use a filling or batting of any kind.  I don't love baby blankets with batting since they aren't as flexible.

I used a zig-zag pattern to quilt it {just following the pattern of the front}, and it was pretty easy.  I'd read some things online that discouraged any type of 'patterns' on a regular machine, but I had my heart set on it.  I just pinned it *really* well, and took my time.  I think it looks great, and much better than a square quilting would have looked with the herringbone pattern.

The binding is a perfect yellow flannel that I found at Joann's.  I obsessed over this binding.  I'd known from the beginning I wanted the gray and white herringbone, but couldn't picture the binding.  I thought  seriously about a gray and white stripe {and actually bought the fabric}, but then decided it should be a solid color.  I bought a deep teal and this yellow, and decided to go with the yellow.  I know it's super trendy right now, but I just love yellow so much.

It was so fun to spend the time making this quilt.  Since we don't know the gender + we already have tons of clothes for boys and girls, this was one of my 'big' projects.  I'm so happy to have such a beautiful blanket to snuggle this babe in!