Walking Foot Baby Quilt

Last month I finished up a baby quilt that I started a couple years ago - it's always nice to get a finish, even if it takes a while.

One of my local quilt stores will sell packages width of fabric strips. I have purchased a few of them and made baby quilts out of them that just sew the strips together and run one perpendicular to all the others. Since then they have become more expensive and less coordinated, so I don't usually bother any more, but I did make my own version of this one of the last times I was travelling through the states when I stopped at JoAnn's.

Historically, I have used this as a way to practice my machine quilting, so I knew I wanted to dig the fabrics out a few years ago when my friend and I did a walking foot quilting class. At the time, I didn't have a baby in mind for the project, just knew it was a good way to practice. So I've been puttering away at it the last few years. Then I heard friends were pregnant with a girl, so I dusted it of and completed it.

Except for the strip that runs the other way, all the strips were quilted using the walking foot. Some with techniques and designs we learned in our class, and some that I googled or came up with on my own.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of time for photographing, so I didn't get shots of all the different quilting, but here's a look at the backing.

I did have to go shopping in my friend's stash for the binding since we were in a stay at home order and I couldn't get to the store to get binding fabric, so I'm appreciative of the fact that she shared.

This is my typical second child quilt. I generally do a hand quilted quilt for a first child (often my own design), and then a machine-quilted strip quilt for the second child. I don't have so many close friends with children, so this is only my 3rd one of these. I do really like making them though. They come together quickly and are a great opportunity to practice my machine quilting skills (which definitely need practicing).