Princess Charming is done!

It's so lovely to have a quilt finish to celebrate. Feels like my first finish in ages - even though I know I have had other projects in the last couple of months - but this was a quick turnaround and one I had a lot of fun with.

Princess Charming turned out just as lovely as I hoped. She is free motion quilted in a very random stipple and the simple pattern and quilting leaves the emphasis on the charms and lets the fabrics shine through.

I left a blank row in the quilt top for the baby's name, Aisling, to be embroidered, and I did this using a dark pink perle cotton, using stem stitch which is lovely for outlining letters (thanks to my sister for this tip!) I then appliqued on some hearts on either side of the name. 

For those not familiar with Irish names, Aisling (pronounced Ash-ling) is a beautiful girl's name meaning a dream or vision.

I used some more of my lovely Ikea hearts print for backing - I love this print, it is so colourful and yet the design is simple, and its perfect for the back of a quilt like this with all those hearts.

I am using my little labels now on all my stuff - love how it looks on the back of my quilts:

The binding is the same as the fabric bordering the name space. I love this little red and pink floral, its one of my favourite stash fabrics which I got from my friend H.

This measures about 38" x 50" - a good size for a cot/toddler bed. I tried a new batting for this one - Simply Cotton - which I bought from Pippablue. I really liked it and it shrank beautifully giving it a lovely crinkly texture. It was great value so I'll definitely be using it again.


I don't have much more to tell you about this quilt - all the info about the pattern etc is in this post. As I'm feeling so happy with it, I'm just glad I managed to take advantage of a little burst of sunshine in between the frequent showers this afternoon!

P.S. Thank you all for your lovely congratulations and good wishes on my last post, we are very excited about our new addition to the family and all your comments meant so much to me :-)

Princess Charming baby quilt top

Don't you love a new project? One that grabs your imagination and gets you creativity flowing again?

When my mother in law asked me if I would make a baby quilt for her friend's new granddaughter, I was thrilled. There are lots of lovely fabrics in my stash and I wanted something colourful and cheerful, simple and bright. Not too taxing, construction wise.


I cut lots and lots of charms using precious scraps like the very last of my swinging girls, my owls, my willow wren and lots of other pretty ones. I added some Japanese charms from last year's swap. Soon, I had a big pile of gorgeousness just waiting to be laid out.

I thought about the pattern for a little while and then decided to use a modified version of 2 different patterns - this crib quilt from Moda Bake Shop, and Kristie's McKinley quilt pattern which I had made before. I increased the size of the crib quilt to make it wider, and want to do something a little like what Kristie did - i.e. applique and the baby's name embroidered.

I had lots of fun piecing this the last couple of days, it flew together for me and I intend on embroidering the name tonight so I can baste it tomorrow and get it quilted.