Clifford's Crib Quilt

I have been itching to get Clifford's bedding done.  Probably the most important part was his crib quilt.  It's kinda like the rug from "The Dude's" apartment..."it really ties the room together."  

(if you don't know the Dude, or the rug, you gotta get on watching The Big Lebowski.  it's one of my all time faves. so ridiculous)

The first step was cutting my squares.  I love all my fabrics.   

Most people do organized quilts, with fancy patterns.  That's not my style.  I lay it out on the floor or a table and then arrange and re-arrange the quilt top until I feel like it is balanced.  This was the pattern that made me the happiest.   It took me a few hours because I would stand and stare and move 3 squares....then walk away and do something else, then repeat.  It is the most important part because when you are as OCD as me, once you find a flaw in your top blocks, you obsess about it.  When the quilt is already sewn and you are irritated about 2 light oranges where clearly it should have been 1 light and 1 dark,  well, in the words of Dad, you're shit outta luck.

After I have my pattern, I stack up my rows to make it easy to grab and sew...and, of course, because this was in the middle of my living room. 

I sit, and I sew each strip.  Usually I sew all my strips then sew them together.  This time I sewed the strips and sewed them together as I went so I got to gradually see it looking more and more like a quilt. I liked that instant gratification.  

Here is a sewn, ironed flat strip. 

Here is a random fact for ya.  I pin nothing.  I hate them.  I ALWAYS get poked regardless of how careful I am.  My solution, curl clips.  I saw them on a trip to the supply house with Maggie and I was scoping them out big time.  A box of 80 was like $4.  That's a lot of awesome if you ask me.  So now, I have little smooth clips that hold things in place wonderfully, slide right off, and never snag fingers or fabric.  I'm one clever girl.  

This is application of said curl clips.  Much faster than pinning if you ask me.  You can see my sewn strip, on my block,  I kinda line up seams starting from the center square then running out to the ends, then sew and iron.

This is my top block all done and looking handsome.  I ironed him up and then laid it out and decided he would look extra polished with a boarder.

I had plenty of extra dark grey fabric from the crib quilt and dust ruffle I made, so ol' quilty got some fancy grey trim.  Plus, this is an excellent way to straighten up any wonky edges...not that I ever make mistakes when cutting, sewing, or lining up my squares.

After his boarder, he got laid out on my batting and backing and then safety pinned together like crazy. 

The I went about the task of quilting him.  I always start in the center and quilt outward.  I learned the hard way that fabric can move around on ya a bit and I didn't want to end up with a great top block, without enough backing to fully cover it.  Again, seam ripping is a good way to piss me off.

I decided just to do vertical quilting on this guy because of how graphic his backing was.  I like to quilt in a contrasting fabric too because I want to see the work.  I love it!

I decided to do store bought satin binding for this quilt for 3 reasons.

#1.  Sheer laziness.

#2.  Just look at that beautiful blue color.

#3.  Satin is super soft and babies like soft things.

After my bindings are machine stitched on, I was simply left to hand stitch the back.   Again, curl clips hold things in place without poking fingers and snagging the satin.  Win win ladies.  I wouldn't steer you wrong.  Especially about something so inconsequential for most of you.

This is the finished product!

Front

Back...watch out, it'll make your eyes dance!

And on his bed.  Initially I was really irritated with myself becaue the quilt was just a hair too big and I was cussing the boarder I just swore I needed to have.  Then I washed and dried it, it wrinkled up a bit (which is a better look) and now it fits perfectly.  

That's it folks,  Cliff Stu's crib quilt is done.  Finite.  It looks so darn cute that I'm starting to second guess bumpers.  That....or I'm starting to second guess more work.  Hard to say exactly what's what here.  Don't blame me, I still have to sew a quilt to cover his carrier/ act as a play mat.