Big Finish: Raw Edge Circle Quilt

I recently finished this scrap-tastic Raw Edge Circle quilt for a special little baby. Her Gigi (aka grandma) asked me to make a baby quilt that was gender-neutral, colorful, and featured some fun little critters. I suggested this pattern from Cluck. Cluck. Sew. because it would allow for a variety of fabrics (and the steps looked simple and straightforward).

Happily, most of the fabric I used in this quilt came from my own stash. I purchased small cuts of a few prints to supplement certain colors that I thought needed to show up more, and I found a couple of great prints that pulled in a lot of the colors I'd already used. I bought the yellow owl print for the backing and used a little in the front as well. I love those owls and squirrels, and the yellow is so bright and cheery.

This quilt tutorial was easy to follow, and the quilt was fun to make. I enjoyed watching it come together on my design wall, arranging and rearranging the small blocks to avoid putting the same prints next to each other.

My only complaint about the tutorial has to do with the frayed edges on the circle appliques. The tutorial advises that fraying will be minimal because the circles are cut on the bias. After a wash and tumble dry, I was surprised (to put it lightly) to find that while some of the circle edges frayed just a little, others frayed a lot -- to the point that the fabric was threadbare at and beyond my applique stitching line. I knew I'd need to do some additional work to reinforce the stitching in the threadbare areas, so I decided to add small sections of satin stitching where the fabric was most compromised. You can see a little of this in the upper left corner of the following photo.  Although I was disappointed that the tutorial forced me to do this repair work, the stitching isn't obvious on the front because of the curling frayed edges, and the print on the back is busy enough to camouflage the repairs.  And I know that now the quilt will hold together through years of use.

After Baby Lily arrived in April, I added a hand-embroidered label and finished the quilt.  (I also added one of my own labels from Jen.)  Lily and her parents live in NYC but were visiting family in Knoxville recently, and it just so happened that I was visiting Knoxville as well, so I left the quilt for Gigi and Grandaddy to give to their darling little granddaughter.

Lily's Gigi took some wonderful photos of Lily with her quilt.  When she wakes up, I'm sure she'll enjoy looking at all the colors and prints!