Inside the Quilter's Studio #4: A Quilt for Remy

Hi all! Today I'm sharing a post about a recent quilt finish for our guild. When I'm not here, you can catch me at quiltsinthequeue.com ~Heather

You might know we are trying to start a tradition in our guild where new babies get quilts made by our guild members. Our friend Carissa just had a baby boy on Halloween, and here is the story of the quilt we made to welcome little Remy.



I always have to put some thought into group quilts - the designs need to accommodate different skill levels (and I'm usually the lowest common denominator anyway) and different people's stashes. I also find it helpful to choose a block where if seam allowances vary it won't throw the entire quilt out of whack. 

Remy's Quilt


For Carissa's baby Remy's quilt, I choose a "magic" flying geese block as one that would come together quickly for people me, and decided on a random placement, similar to  Carla's quilt. I gave people a basic color scheme of oranges, blues, and greens. So many of you made offers to help make blocks that in the end I had to suggest people help with the "next one" so that we didn't end up with a queen size! I love how generous our guild members are.


Remy's Quilt

The quilt came together quickly, and I only had to do one inset seam to complete the top. Score!



Remy's Quilt

I had some green minky fabric that I'd originally purchased for another baby quilt that just didn't work out (one of the few times I've had the problem of purchasing fabric online that was a totally different color than on the computer screen). So I made good use of it here.



Remy's Quilt 

I'd never sewn minky before, so I did a lot of research before quilting with it. In the end, I just spray basted as normal and everything was fine (although it's very linty - definitely clean out under your needle plate after using it). I used a walking foot to straight line quilt and it went fine. Perhaps it would have been trickier with free motion quilting.


Remy's Quilt

In my minky research, I found this quilt tutorial with instructions on how to bind using the backing. I love that the edges have the same plush feel as the back, and I'm sure this never would have worked with traditional binding methods given the bulk of the minky. Also, this was the first quilt I made using Anjeanette's tutorial for borders. I was surprised at how little I had to trim to get the quilt to square. It was awesome!



Remy's Quilt

So this quilt is with sweet little Remy now and I have it on good authority that he is using it well. Thanks to my guild members who helped with this one!