little pennies

 this weekend i completed the binding on three quilts, starting with this little lady here. this is the baby quilt i made for my newest niece out of the leftovers from my penny patch 2.0 quilt. (although now that i need to increase the size of the penny patch 2.0 to correct my orientation mistake, these weren't really leftovers. whatever.) i sort of didn't want to post photos of this quilt since it's stealing the thunder on my full-size penny patch, but i also couldn't resist sharing a finish.

 i went to the store to get a backing for this quilt and settled on the teal october afternoon for riley blake print pictured, but i totally forgot to get a binding while i was there! i didn't have a perfect binding on hand at home but i did have this cotton + steele basic print, which in the end works out nicely.

i quilted with a large dogwood blossom, except for one penny patch where i made it the size of the smallest squares as a subtle accent feature. i chose to go larger because it would be faster. and it was. however, it was harder to get into the groove of the shape when making it that large. also, i like the look of it done smaller on my original penny patch. but this way it keeps the quilt softer for the baby and allowed me to finish it in less than half the time.

 i had good luck with the binding at first. i only cut 4 strips and it was just long enough by about an inch! i've never cut it that close before. so glad i tried attaching it first rather than cutting that extra strip just to be on the safe side because that would have been a big waste.

 that little bit on the right is what was left once i trimmed the ends to connect them. i just squeaked by, didn't i?

and then when i attached the ends, it worked perfectly the very first try! i love when i get those fiddly ends together and then it just snaps perfectly into place. it makes me feel like such a big girl to get it right the first time! for my first several quilts, attaching the binding ends was a real trial. but now i can do it with ease, without even looking at a book or tutorial to help me. the process has become second nature. i've finally wrapped my head around how it works together, which helps me remember how to do it. very satisfying as an old dog to learn a new trick after enough practice.

attaching the binding down by machine is not second nature yet. i made a complete mess out of this binding when getting it sewn to the other side. i tried out my clover clips, which were great for holding it in place, but they didn't improve my accuracy because, unlike pins, you can't get the clips up very close to the needle. unfortunately, this little lady was the learning curve for the new process i used. by the time i was on the third binding of the weekend, i had it down pretty well.

that's a wrap on this little one. my niece was born on friday, i had this finished on saturday, washed and delivered it on sunday. that's pretty good timing for me.

i'll be posting the other finishes soon, once they have been photographed.

linking up with crazy mom quilts