Noah's Baby Quilt

With the mounting stress of Noah's poor sleep habits and Alan's ridiculous work hours, I realized that I needed to do something for myself. Crafting has always been a good release for me, so I started there, looking for something to do. I decided on quilting. I've only made one quilt before, a patchwork quilt made with huge squares. And I didn't even quilt it, I just tied it. But I wanted to make something very special for Noah, something that he'll be able to keep for a long time, and always know that it's full of his mommy's love. I found the pattern for this appliqued baby quilt on Moda Bake Shop. I spent an afternoon driving to Milton, WI, home of a huge fabric/quilting shop. I picked my fabric and got working. The quilt was actually very simple to make--It didn't even take me too long. The pattern recommended free-motion quilting, but I wasn't about to try that, especially without a quilting foot for my very cheap sewing machine, so I just drew a pattern onto the quilt top and quilted it that way. I think what I did is called echo quilting, as I just echoed the shapes that are on the quilt top. I even made my own bias tape for the binding. I feel very pleased with how it turned out, especially for being my first real quilt. I'm working on a big one for Abbie's bed now--It's honestly the most therapeutic thing I've done in a while. The process of quilting requires enough thought to be distracting, but not so much as to be stressful. And the finished product is beautifully satisfying.