Log Cabin Baby Quilt

Yesterday was a very exciting day for me.  I was flipping through the blogs in my reader and came upon the listing of the Top 10 link ups in the Festival of Half Square Triangles at Canoe Ridge Creations.  I scrolled through, admiring the quilts, and then, BAM - there was my quilt.  Wow - I couldn't (and can't) believe it.  There were so many amazing entries into the festival - I am so flattered to be chosen.  The choice has now been turned over to the viewer's and voting is open until tomorrow night (Wednesday, April 25th at midnight CST.)

I was in such a happy place because of my HST quilt news that I couldn't wait to get started on my next project but as I've been mentioning, my fabric stash is running very low.  So, while I was waiting for my new fabrics to arrive, I decided to fix the binding on this Log Cabin quilt.  This was one of the first patchwork quilts I made after discovering my love of quilting.  I made it last summer while very pregnant and had my two older kids nearby taking turns picking out the fabrics.  This quilt definitely has its, um, imperfections - puckering and uneven squares for example - but most of its, um, imperfections, don't bother me at all.  However, the binding was really awful.  I think this was only the second quilt that I actually put a binding on - and I machine-stitched the binding which didn't work out very well.  (It was after this quilt that I started hand-stitching my bindings until I decided to try machine-stitching again a few months ago.)  Anyway, here is a small photo of the binding:

Redoing the binding has been on my to-do list for awhile and I'm so glad I finally did it.  What a huge difference it makes!

I machine stitched the binding again but I think my technique has come a long way over the last eight months (not perfect but much improved.)

And another pic:

I started this binding as soon as the baby started her nap this morning.  While I was stitching, I was trying to remember what I did during nap times when my older two were babies - I didn't do anything crafty back then - no sewing, no crochet, no embroidery - seriously, what I do with that time?  Okay, back to the present - one more photo:

Happily, my new fabric order arrived.  Yea!

So I started sewing my quilt for the My Precious QAL at Kelbysews.

Can you guess what my precious fabric is?

It is the Momo Wonderland and the Mendocino.  I also used the few precious scraps I had left of Nicey Jane and various other fabric scraps I love.  I only had a 1/2 yard (or even less) of the Mendocino but I had a full yard of the Wonderland so I'll be doing another project or two with that as well.

Oh, and I'll leave you with this:

This is the old binding I cut off the quilt and some scraps that are even too tiny for me to use.  I collect these in a basket for my daughters who put them to use in their craft projects.  They use the scraps in a variety of ways including as stuffing since they always seem to be making pillows and mattresses for their dolls.

I have a few other projects in this works this week including this one that I posted a peek of over the weekend.  And I think I might get back to a little crochet - it has been awhile.

Linking up to JAQ Studios - Made by Me Wednesday, Sew Much Ado - We did it! Wednesday, Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story, and WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Okay, I'm off to check out the link parties to see what everyone else has been up to this week.