Peach Bum: Della's Riverbend Quilt

I am so excited about this post! I have been anticipating this end-result for almost 3 weeks and I am thrilled, I mean THRILLED with how it turned out! I made this for Della, in hopes that she will have it for years to come. For my brother, Saul, it was his Turtle Blanket. For my brother, Judd, it was Red October (his red baby blanket) and for Della, maybe it'll be this Riverbend Quilt. If not, that's OK, she still has her little friend, Zebra to love and cuddle and tote around.

I did a lot of "firsts" with this quilt. First and foremost, this is my first quilt. Ever. Second, it was my first time doing circles, and if you're wondering how I did them, just click on the "Circles Made Easy" link on the right in my Honorable Mentions tab. Third, I have never done embroidery of any kind. That link is also under Honorable Mentions. Fourth, I have never used linen, and this entire quilt is linen. I love that it is always wrinkly, it has a very old-fashioned style and feel to it.

here is a close up of the decorative stitch.

And of course, I have to show a bit of the process. Here is 1/3 of it. After I got the front all patched together I headed over to my friend, Lindsay's so she could help me with the batting and binding. I had no idea what I was doing! So, since we didn't have a quilting frame, we pinned them to the floor, and once they were pinned in place I started sewing. Unfortunately, when I was about 1/3 of the way done sewing it all together, we realized we had forgotten the batting! NO WAY! But I didn't want to stitch rip what I had done, so I finished it and was just going to have a really thin quilt. Then Lindsay's mother-in-law, Sue came over and convinced us to take it ALL apart and put in the batting. And I'm so glad she did! It made all the difference in the world. :) So, thanks, Sue! And thanks, Lindsay for all of the help, I had a blast.

And voila! The finished product! I made a matching pillowcase with the leftover material, below is a closer look of it.

It has SO many imperfections, but it kind of adds to the character of the quilt. And Della already likes it, she rolls around on it and traces the stitches with her finger, hides under it and lays on the pillow and sucks her thumb... I think she knows it's hers:) So stinkin' cute!