Little Boy Blue Quilt

Took a break from all the projects in progress to make a baby quilt this weekend. One of the guys at the office is expecting his first child. His son was supposed to arrive in October, then the end of September, then the middle of September, and now it looks like it could be any day. So, I thought it was time to get busy. I don't know him very well since he just joined our group a couple of months ago so I wasn't quite sure where to start. 

What to make, what to make...I asked him what colors were in the baby's nursery. Light blue and dark blue. Light blue as in traditional baby blue? No, the light blue has maybe some teal or aqua to it. And that's the extent of the information I had for making this quilt. I abandoned the idea of making anything that would remotely match the nursery, but I did stick with the blue theme.

Jeni over at In Color Order has a great tutorial for a quilt called "Addition". I thought her design would work perfectly for a family expecting a new addition and it also represents all the positive things a new addition brings. With concept in mind, I hit the stash. I pulled every boyish blue I had along with some whites and grays. As with any project, the fabric choices were added to and taken away from until a quilt top was born. The end result uses all tonal blues with a strong leaning toward royal and navy. The teals and aquas just didn't make the cut and the whites and grays were too harsh.

The back was just as much fun to make as the front. Rather than a plain back, two giant plus signs are incorporated. This quilt can be used on either side! The Kaffe Fassett Roman Glass in Blue/White brings all the blues together nicely.

I used a dark gray Aurifil 50 weight thread for quilting. It ended up as a simple maze of straight line quilting since I started in the center and spiraled out.

The finished quilt is a little big for a baby quilt (approximately 46 x 54), but it will be great for throwing on the ground for a little one to lay on and roll around on. It has been washed so it is all soft and crinkly.

This project is another all stash project. All stash, no cash...that might be my new motto. And the funny thing is, even though I have made several stash projects this year, I have not noticed even a small dent in the size of my stash. Looks like I'll be stash busting for quite a bit longer.