“Elbow” Baby Quilt Finished!

I made this quilt top at a quilting retreat at the end of February. I’m calling the patchwork an “Elbow” block. Pre-cut friendly, it’s made from 5″ squares and 2 1/2″ squares. The gray tone-on-tone and gray swirl print (from Wilmington Prints) wonderfully showcase the bright, scrappy fabric prints.

After assembling the top, I searched my stash for backing and pondered what color quilting thread would be best. The backing question was easily settled by piecing gifted fabrics from Heather and Peggy. (Thanks, friends!) As for thread color, I debated between gray to match the background and lime green to match the backing. My quilting friend, Sana, always encourages me to “take a walk on the wild side” when choosing thread, so I chose daring lime green instead of safe gray. I was surprised and pleased with the outcome; lime green is not as garish as I imagined, and the quilting design texture shows up so much better than if I had selected gray. (Thanks, Sana! I should listen to you more often!)

Some little guy in the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit of our local hospital will have a bright, interesting quilt to stare at until he is big enough to use it for “tummy time.”