Max and Whiskers Baby Quilt

Friends of mine are expecting a baby in July. They're waiting for a surprise on delivery day about the baby's sex so a gender neutral quilt was in order. I fell in love with Basic Grey's Max and Whiskers collection as soon as I saw it, and the turquoise, yellow and orange hues certainly fit the gender neutral requirement.

I strip pieced a basic nine patch pattern and added to the mix 6" whole cloth squares of the main pattern fabric. The borders and binding were made of the same nine patch prints. The finished quilt measures approximately 42" square.

I used the whole cloth main pattern fabric for the backing and quilted the assembly on my long arm with an overall stipple pattern. With each long arm attempt, my relationship with the machine improves. Just two thread breaks this time. Not perfect but this seems to become less of an issue each time I quilt. This was a one day project, one long day. I started at about 10:00 am yesterday and finished at 2:00 am this morning. I did take a few breaks in between for meals and stretching but for the most part, making this quilt consumed me for about sixteen hours.