Party Dress

Now this quilt was definitely harder than I originally thought it would be. I try to keep baby quilts relatively simple, because:

A. the quilt is likely to get dirty,

B. there's not a lot of room to work with since it is so small, and

C. they can't really appreciate the time and effort it takes to make a quilt for at least another 20 years.

That said, I just can't help but complicate my life sometimes. I have been wanting to try a Bento Box pattern for quite some time and just never have the right moment.

So I figured, why not on my friend Jess's baby quilt. First off, let me start by saying the quilt turned out beautifully and is definitely a piece of art. I am so thankful it was Jess I got to make it for, but boy was it time consuming. Some of those pieces are less than an inch wide and there are 48 teenie tiny completed Bento Boxes.

I feel like the white sashing definitely helped to open up the quilt. Some of the fabric was busy and therefore it needed a lot of white to give it the clean fresh feeling.

I love how my friend Jess decided to go with a Zebra print in the baby room. It is absolutely a fun theme to work with, it really opens up the possibilities.

This was my first pink baby girl quilt. I have made many quilts for baby boys, twin baby boys and little boys. This quilt had me feeling the adorable little girl vibe. I am so jealous that Jess will soon have a little baby girl to dress up in pretty little pink dresses and frilly shirts. Leah is going to be absolutely adorable Jessica!

This quilt measured approximately 48" x 64", slightly larger than a crib quilt but hopefully one she will have for years to come. I might be in love with the Zebra print back, it is priceless.

I had the name picked out before the quilt was even finished, it just came to me and I think it fits perfectly. It reminds me of one of those adorable black and pink cocktail dresses that only a girl under the age of 16 can wear... oh the days!

If it wasn't pouring outside the entire week before I wrapped up the quilt I might have been able to take some prettier more vibrant pictures. Perhaps I can persuade Momma Jess to take some when Leah arrives! So exciting!

Purchases!

In anticipation of amandajean's quilt along (I'm way behind) and the next quilt I am making I needed to purchase more batting and sashing materials. In addition, I found some fat quarters I couldn't live without! The yellow and white are remnants, and the orange was a color I realized I didn't have in my stash... no orange, how sad! I have found that I am not drawn to either orange or purple, I need to work on my fabric selection in the future.
Here is a close up of the top fabric, I thought it was absolutely adorable, I would have bought more but they only had it in a fat quarter. Soooo cute!

I bought an entire bolt of Kona Cotton White, I have a feeling this won't last me much more than 2-3 quilts, I tend to enjoy the use of crisp white sashing (really opens up my quilts). I also purchased some more Coats Cotton quilting thread in Natural... I find this thread is best for quilting. The color blends very well with most colors.

I had a 50% coupon for Joann's and therefore purchased 10 yards of Warm and White batting. I haven't yet got up the courage to purchase an entire bolt (40 yards). Although I know I will never stop quilting, a tiny voice in my head says, "but what would you do with 40 yards?" For now I will stick to 10 and frequent Joann's until I can get up the courage to purchase 20 yards, we will work our way to 40.
All fabric is washed, ironed, folded and put away (yes, all 8 yards of the Kona Cotton too), perhaps a sneak peak at my stash will be warranted eventually!