Red Cross Baby Quilt

I have a good friend from college who is expecting her first daughter. I'm so thrilled for her! Having four daughters myself, I'm so happy for her. When she told me it was a girl, I started brainstorming quilts for her, and she said she didn't really have a preference on color except for gray and pink, and extra colors were okay.

Then, she told me she'd be in town for a conference and would be having a baby shower, so my deadline, which was originally based on her July due date, got moved up a couple months. Yikes! I got to work quickly and got a quilt top off to Marion for quilting about a week later. Marion was willing to work with my quick deadline, and got it back to me just in time to bind.

I used a pattern from Vintage Quilt Revival, one of my favorite quilt books, and I modified it only so slightly. They used nine Red Cross blocks to create a center and then set it on point for a lap sized quilt, but the center was about 43" square, which I thought was a perfect size for a baby quilt and I liked it better not set on point, so it worked out great! 

The prints all came from my stash, and all I needed to purchase was the background. And the backing. I opted to go with minky because I'd need to piece a back for quilting for a plain backing, but minky is 60" wide so I wouldn't need to piece it. Lazy? Yes. But also, you can't beat minky! I got so lucky and a local shop had their flat fold minky for $7/yd, so I got a slightly bigger piece than I needed (the piece I found was 1-3/4 yards) but paid only about $13 after tax, which is less than a yard would have cost, and cheaper than a backing from Kona. Huzzah! 

I decided to bind it with a solid pink I had in my stash, and I think it worked well.

I'm really so excited for her and I hope she loves this quilt!

This quilt was my One Monthly Goal for April and I'm happy to say I finished it. I'll be linking up at Elm Street's One Monthly Goal link up party.