Just before my trip I finished the quilt I had been making for Baby B. It turn out pretty well for my first real foray into patchwork, first try at machine quilting, and considering how often (and how late into the game) I changed the design while making it.

I went with a farm/garden/food theme as Baby B’s mum and dad have one heck of an organic garden on their one acre and mum has been active with Heifer International. I could picture Baby B sitting on the quilt watching mum or dad weed or pick fruits and vegetables (though I have a feeling he will want to be more hands on than that!)

I liked the backing fabric: red tomatoes against the grasshopper green background.

I added yellow ric-rac to the binding.

When I began I had planned on Snowball blocks alternating with simple nine patch blocks. By the end, however, I had exchanged the nine patch squares with the much more complex 54 40 or FIGHT! blocks. I really like the secondary pattern this block makes with the corners of the snowball blocks, creating a diamond effect for the farm scenes. I left the center of the 54 40 or FIGHT! block as one solid piece of watermelon fabric (the original block calls for a four patch duplicating one of the corner four patches) to create a tertiary star pattern.

The piecing is a bit off so the points don’t always match up. There’s an old saying “As you sew, so shall you rip.” I put that into practice with this one. I’ve now learned to baste, baste, baste.

In the end the top wasn’t flat. This lead to major problems machine quilting it. I was able to stitch in the ditch around the main diamonds, but had to tack/tie much of the rest of it.