I finally, finally (Finally!) finished my HST chevron quilt for my friend’s baby boy.  And just in the nick of time – baby is due to make his appearance any day now!  The long weekend was just what I needed to knock out the last few steps of finishing up this quilt.  It’s in the mail right now… but I want to make sure it’s safely in MS before I blog about it.

But!  I have a surprise finish that I can share first.   When my friend was picking out fabrics for the quilt, I suggested using minky fabric for the backing, since I’ve heard it’s great for babies and I’ve always wanted to try working with it.  Maybe that wasn’t the best idea to bring in an unknown factor, but hey – I’ve got to learn somehow, right?  I have to admit though, I had a few moments of freaking out… I was really worried that after finishing the quilt top, I would completely ruin the whole thing if I messed up the back.

So I decided to make a mini quilt for practice – and as a bonus, it’s can be a coordinated wall hanging or lovey too!

I made a quick patchwork using the strip piecing method –  starting with four  strip sets sewn together.

Cut into rows and sew together, alternating rows.  I used six different fabrics, so it’s more of a scrappy approach then the traditional two-color nine patch.

Baby L has an easy initial for improv piecing, so I made a quick monogram on a band of grey fabric.

Now for the quilting part – the real reason I wanted to attempt this mini project.  I’ve heard horror stories (pretty mild horror, of course.  This is quilting, after all!) about the excess fluff and the bunching, so I proceeded with caution.  I didn’t want to mess with binding, so I pinned the top and batting together to quilt.  I quilted a criss crossing X pattern over the patchwork, and an outline of the grey panel.

Then I sewed the top and backing right sides together with a ¼” seam, leaving a 3-inch hole to turn.  After removing the pins, I pulled the right side out and poked the corners out with a knitting needle.  Then I quilted a 1/4″ seam around the perimeter to close the gap, and an outline of the monogram.

I like that you can see the L (even if it’s backwards) on the back.

My verdict on quilting with minky: it’s really not that bad to work with!  However, a caveat… I had no problems at all on this mini practice piece.  But when I worked on the bigger quilt, I had a lot more issues with bunching.  Nothing a few extra pins couldn’t prevent (although the ripping out part wasn’t fun), so over all I’m still pro-minky.

I was definitely more confident going into the quilting process on the bigger baby quilt, and I enjoyed adding a patchwork surprise to the package!

I’m linking up to Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts!