Finally! I can reveal my TOP SECRET PROJECT! It’s a baby quilt! Not so top-secret you say? Well, it’s for my daughter and son-in-law that just adopted a baby. We’ve been waiting a looooong time for this to happen. And finally. At the end of May, our new grandson was born!

Arthur Terrance!

When I found out that they were on the baby list, I rushed to order fabrics. I knew just what I wanted! I revealed the fabrics a few weeks ago. The yellow, green, red, and blue ginghams are from Riley Blake. I ordered them from an Etsy shop, I had the pink gingham from a different project and it is from Moda. I’ve had the solid fabric forever. (I have so many layer cakes, fat quarters, and 1/2 yards in solid fabric–time I started using them!) I cut the gray up into little 2 1/2″ pieces but then didn’t use it. I’ll save it for another time.

The white fabric with the little hearts is from Robert Kaufman and I bought it from our local quilt shop, Beyond the Stitches. I usually don’t use white in baby quilts but I couldn’t resist. The hearts! The small bits!

The backing is from Fabric.com. It’s a minky. So soft and cute. Jessica and Andrew love cats so I thought it was perfect!

I had also picked up the binding fabric from Beyond the Stitches. It’s from Tula Pink. I really didn’t plan on using it for this quilt, I just really liked all the colors and the swallows. When I realized it matched the gray on the back, I thought “Perfect”.

I wanted to use the gingham because that was a theme in Jessica and Andrew’s wedding a little more than 9 years ago. Blue gingham, Blueberries, and Bluegrass.

Back to the quilt….I hung all the stars on a design board. Took lots of pics while I rearranged to find the best combination. And even after all those pictures, I didn’t realize that all the oranges where in the bottom half of the quilt. Scheesh! It’s still pretty! And bright! And cheerful!

I quilted it diagonally. That’s my “go to” for quilts with stars!

The quilt is 40″ x 40″. When I calculated the length of the binding, I took 40″ x 4 sides and added 10 inches. That’s how I always figure it out. I needed about 5 yards of binding. This is how close I came to the length! A little too close for comfort!

I’m calling this the “Hope” quilt. With the swallows on the binding and the rainbows on the back plus a new baby–it’s all about Hope!

The quilt is basically the same as the “Baby Rock Star Quilt” That I made last year. I just changed up the colors.

I hung it in my dining room. Zowie! Does that look great there? I think I need to make one for me!

Maybe next month!