September's Dotty Success

I reluctantly gave in and decided to send my dotty quilt out to a long arm quilter. It ended up just a bit larger than I am comfortable quilting. (56X56). 
But seeing it now... I am so glad I did.
Thank you to Jo Caraway... I love it! Your creativity enhances every dot!
Here are a few pics of the wonderful depth she created by double layering the batting:

and now a few close-ups

you can really appreciate the quilting from the back:

  

A box for Pooh Bear...

My handmade baby shower in a box is on it's way to the mother-to be. In those uncomfortable final anxious days, I hoped to offer a pick me up, so the timing is perfect! 

I pre washed all the fabrics & batting since I wanted them able to handle daily usage. I collected all the Winnie-the Pooh fabrics (to match her classical theme)...  I was ready.

fully pieced & ready for quilting!

Left over fabric allowed for a few extra gifts!

Bibs & Burp cloths

Finished quilt!

(back)

<3

Another UFO... for blessings & sanity's sake.

I love my pieced dotty quilt topper & pieced backing. All that remains to be completed is the actual quilting and a few additional embellishments. (How many of those do we all tend to let pile up.)
Most of the others in my guild send their toppers out to long arm quilters. But I would rather not. It is expensive & I figure it is MY quilt so I want to actually QUILT IT! So I keep my quilts to throw & home quiltable size.
I am thankful I have other projects that currently will require priority, so off to the UFO stack it goes. But only for a while.

So, on to my goals for this September:

My daughters best friend is expecting her first child and she will be my daughters God Child. 

So I have decided to create "a baby shower in a box".

Her nursery has a classical Winnie the Pooh Bear theme. 

So I headed to pinterest for ideas and google for fabric searches.

I was excited to actually find Pooh Bear fabric at Hobby Lobby. (Not my favorite place to buy fabric, but when I did a search on line for the fabrics it sent me there).

So, fabric in hand... I washed it & my batting in detergent from a bottle of baby dreft I found under the laundry room sink. My kids are now 23 & 21, so I would rather not think about its age. (It made suds... so I guess all's good).

I had never washed batting before, but I was worried about shrinkage since I was unsure of fabric quality & the extra lofty batting I bought there. 

Here it is... 4 yards of fabric ready & inviting.

I plan to make a quilt, some burp cloths and bibs... and whatever else I have fabric left for as my September goal. 

Hopefully I will even complete it all and ship it before she delivers. 

(At least there are no dots!) <3