Baby quilt completed

A few days ago I wrote about my frustration starting a new machine quilting project. I think it wouldn't be so frustrating if I hadn't had reasonable success quilting the baby quilt for my friend. Again, I had to alter my settings once I got started from what I'd settled on with my test sandwich, but not nearly to the same extent as I'm having to do with this other quilt, which I'm making for my sister. I guess that's where the extra bulk and weight of my sister's quilt makes a difference -- it's about 55" x 80" whereas the baby quilt is about 43" x 55". Each quilt is its own learning experience is the moral to this story.

But as far as the baby quilt goes, it turned out well. Nothing fancy, just simple borders and cornerstones and minimal quilting. I tried a new technique for the binding -- I attached it first to the back, then used a zigzag stitch to finish it on the front. You can see the zigzag on the back, but I'm OK with that. As I've told my friend, this is a quilt that's meant to be used and washed and used some more.

Once it was finished and washed and dried, I was so happy I'd stuck with using quilt shop-quality fabric. It's just so soft. I have a scrap quilt I made a few years ago from fabric I'd purchased from a variety of places, and despite having been washed multiple times it's nowhere near as soft as the baby quilt was after just one time through the washer. If I wasn't a convert to good fabric before, I sure am now.