Whitniffic Whatnots

I'm hooked on quilting now... I bought this book along with the others I got last month, and I'm in love with the honeycomb quilt on the front cover (and several others inside). I decided to make one in shades of blue for my husband. I bought the fabrics a week or two ago (before I started the baby quilt in the previous post) but I was waiting on a larger cutting mat and acrylic ruler to arrive so I didn't start cutting right away. When my tools came, the first thing I did was freak out about a baby shower gift, so I did that first. But as soon as the binding was sewn on to the pink and green crib quilt, I switched back into cutting mode. This one has lots of pieces... and I mean LOTS. Big jump from the simple basket weave of the last one, but I'm excited to take on the challenge! I've been trying to stay organized... I stuck the pieces for the quilt back detail up on a bulletin board so I have a quick reference for which solid goes with which print.

Is is just me, or is everyone having babies these days? I had another friend's baby shower to go to this past weekend (not to mention the two surprise 60th birthday parties we were invited to...), and it really snuck up on me! I figured since it took me nine months to crochet the last baby blanket I made, I should try a different technique- so I gave quilting a shot! Because I started it at 9:30 on Friday night, I obviously didn't get the quilt done by Saturday morning. But I did get pretty far. I think that getting an entire quilt pieced and sandwiched and partially quilted in a few hours is pretty good! I used a fusible batting for lack of curved safety pins, although I think next time I will try the pins instead. I ended up fusing the extra batting to my rug! Oops. Here's what it looked like before the shower (the blue tape is my guideline for the diagonal top stitching): I ordered several modern quilting books about a month ago, and I had been itching to t