Free Motion Mavericks - Week 401 - Baby Arrived Early

My good intentions to have the crib liner finished in time for the Autumn Baby's arrival have been thwarted by his early arrival on Sunday - three weeks early with accompanying shock and drama.  After a rough start, mum and baby are now doing well, but not home yet.

Meanwhile, the crib liner is nearly finished - four quilted panels, ten and a half inches deep, joined at the four corners using the QAYG method.

I stitched a line down the middle of the joining strip so that the panels can fit easily into the corners of the crib.  I decided to use the same fabric to keep the join reasonably unobtrusive, giving a few entertaining results with the design.  There is some dangerous flying going on with those three helicopters.

With the binding I wanted minimum contrast, and dug out a piece of fabric that I bought years ago as a small remnant.  There was just enough to make the binding.  The design is very muted and the little stars and moons are perfect for bedtime.

Now I have to attach tabs to fasten the lining to the crib.  I have been deliberating for a while, and have finally decided on a method.  It has been tricky working with just photos and measurements and without being able to fit the lining to the actual crib.  I have put in pins to indicate the spacing between the staves, but it still didn't help with the actual length of the tabs.  Eventually I hit on the idea of asking my husband to make a mock up of a couple of staves and the top and bottom, all to scale, so I can work in three dimensions instead of floundering in fresh air.

I still have plenty of the main fabric left, but didn't want to cut into it just for a lot of tabs that would only be seen on the back, so I pulled out a pale brownish fabric that will go better with the wood of the crib.

It has sweet little angels on it.  I'm hoping one or two will be visible on the finished item to keep guard over the sleeping baby.

 

Here goes for Week 401:-

Many thanks to Andrée for linking up last time with her wonky stars.  If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over now and see more.

 

If you have no free motion quilting to show, feel free to link up and show any project you like.  Here are the usual rules, but feel free to ignore them.  To keep the original emphasis, however, preference will be given to free motion quilting when featuring projects from the previous week.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-

1.  Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2.  Link back to this post in your own post.

3.  Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.

4.  The link up will remain open for five days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Tuesday.

So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland, Brazil and Sweden have taken part.  The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.