"Winter Song" Baby Quilt Finish! {Blogger's Quilt Festival}

Well, it's that time of the year again when all of us who can't go to the Quilt Festival in Houston celebrate online.  That's right, it's the Blogger's Quilt Festival hosted over at Amy's Creative Side. This is my third time to participate. Thanks Amy!

Now, I know that the idea of the festival is to look back over the quilts you've made in the past 6 months and choose the ones that you want to celebrate, but honestly, this little quilt I just finished is my favorite I've made in a LONG time.  I am in love with this little quilt.

This baby quilt was made for a friend of my mom's who is expecting a Christmas baby.  I decided to call it "Winter Song" after the wintery icy-blues and creamy white. The inspiration for this quilt started with two fat quarters of these great Lonni Rossi fabrics. Wonderful, soft, natural colors and patterns.

I went back out in the evening to photograph the colors under a different light

The idea for this quilt came together after a night of surfing blogs.  I am indebted to the blogging community for the techniques that made this quilt so successful.  Some of it was stuff I had just seen, and some were things I had seen and been percolating in my mind for a while. But when it all clicked, I knew just how I wanted to use it all together.

The tutorial for the no waste geese is here at Pieceful Kwilter. I love making flying geese this way.

The pattern for the paper-pieced deer is here at Shape Moth.  If you haven't already been drooling over the gorgeous blocks made in the Forest Quilt Along get yourself over to their Flickr group and prepare to be stunned.

Ok, this one might be my favorite shot of the quilt.

I am not enough of a paper-piecer to do all 12 blocks, but including just one in this quilt added so much. Usually heavy quilting makes a quilt stiffer. Paper piecing is the opposite; it benefits from having the snot quilted out of it.  I knew as soon as I started this quilt that I would use this ultra-wavy quilting (best to try something that ambitious on a small quilt first.)

I think the wavy quilting helps to emphasize natural, outdoor-sy motifs in the fabrics.  It's a good thing I love it, because it too all. day. long. to quilt this tiny top. The tutorial for the technique is here at Better Off Thread.

For the backing I used 3 wintery color flannels.  Maximum softness for baby :)  And included my traditional label under the binding with the quilt's name and the year.

That ornate grey is one of my all time favs

The quilt finished at 36" x 43".  These little quilts are so addicting because I can do about one a week, and giving them away is so rewarding.  This quilt will be delivered soon to the expectant mom :)

Linking up to Finish it Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and the TGIFF OctoberQuest2 at Quilter in the Closet.

I am entering this quilt in the baby quilt category. Be sure to go check out all the other entries and see my other quilt in the bee quilt category here.