I love learning something new!

I’ve been working on the baby blanket (that I’ve now named Ashlyn after the yet unborn baby girl whom this is for) and I’m almost to the point of starting the applique…eeeks! I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday and bought some fabric; first I found Kona Cotton in Lavender in the clearance bin – SCORE!! I also bought some other fabric in a darker shade of lavender and then I found it…lavender flannel!! And there was just 2 yards left on the bolt which is more than enough for the back. Lastly, I picked up Heat n Bond, which according to all the tutorials I’ve watched is exactly what I need to adhere the letters to the quilt before actually stitching them on.

Tonight I played with PowerPoint and found a font that I like…I printed out the letters in lower case (using mirror image) and traced it on the Heat n Bond paper. I followed the instructions for adhering it to the back side of the fabric and then I cut out the letters…I’m so excited because they all turned out great!! I placed the letters on the yellow strip and played with positioning them; alternating leaning left/right…for now straight wins out.

After putting them in place (but not yet ironing them on) I felt like I needed something else to balance it out…so I found a flower pattern and made two; one in a large size the other in a smaller size.  Here’s what it looks like so far…

I still need to sew on the lavender borders on the left and right sides and of course iron on and sew the letters and flowers. I have a feeling I should’ve done the applique before I attached the yellow strip to the rest of the quilt…argh…I guess that will be another lesson learned!

I’m really loving the way this is turning out…and hopefully Ashlyn’s parents will love it too!