A Sweet Finish

Oh I was so excited that my friend had her baby this weekend.  Obviously, I felt joy for their newest addition to their family (baby Roman), but I was also tickled to be able to finish this quilt I started a while back.  I had a fun idea for the center, and it was great to see it finally come together. 

Here's the finish:

I love the Lake House Fabics. 

Here's  a close up of the center:

I love how it turned out.

Here is a finished picture of the set, including 2 personalized burp clothes. 

I LOVE the burp clothes....they turned out so cute.  I especially loved the frog from SWAK embroidery.  How darling???  I cannot wait to send this out in the mail, pronto.

The theme for The Charming Girls Club this month is Quilting the Quilt.  I don't have a lot of good tips for this really.  Everything I have learned has been trial and error.  In fact I had a bit of an issue near the center block on this one.  I like to use curved safety pins to baste with.  I use to religiously spray with basting spray, but it is rather expensive (and makes a sticky mess everywhere) and I have found that some of my smaller quilts really don't need the spray.  The problem I had with this one though probably could have been avoided had I sprayed. 

The one tip, and this is pretty important, I do have is to TAKE A BREAK every now and then.  The first time I quilted a quilt on my machine, obviously I was a bit tensed up and nervous...I am sure that this had something to do with the story I am about to tell you.  Anyway, I quilted for several hours straight.  In the night while I was in bed, I had a rib displace and slide under my shoulder blade.  It was very painful and the chiropractor assured me that it had to do with my quilting that day.  So, TAKE a Break, Stretch a Bit, and don't displace a rib.