Skip Ahead Baby Quilt

Welcome to another TGIFF party, where we get to celebrate our recent finishes!

I always love getting to make a new quilt, and I especially love it when I know the new quilt will be going to a new baby. When that new quilt will be going to a new baby whose parents actually use the quilts I've given them, it's even better! This Skip Ahead baby quilt will be going to a great-nephew due to arrive in a couple of months and I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of him on it.

Skip Ahead is the Stash Artists pattern for July and the pattern includes throw and queen sizes along with the baby size. I was debating which size to make because I really love making throw quilts, but then I remembered little man on the way and decided this was the perfect design for his quilt. And bonus, it used an off-cut piece of my Warm and Natural batting.

For a while I was calling the design Citrus and Blue, but I try not to reference the colours I used in the pattern names since most people probably won't choose the same colours. I do love the combination of citrus colours for the kite shaped blocks and the blues for the squares, but needed to come up with something else for the name. The name Skip Ahead comes from the diagonal paths created by the shapes and how it looks like we could skip along on the paths.

I chose to use all solid fabrics for the blue squares and all prints for the citrus colours. Some of the prints are pretty subtle, so they don't show up well in the pictures, but they're not solids.

The kite blocks are paper pieced, so I used freezer paper to make mine (of course!). I traced two templates and used them for all of the blocks. I love that the freezer paper templates are reusable! Learn more about the freezer paper technique in this on-demand workshop.

I knew right away that I wanted to quilt wishbones in the kite blocks. It's one of my favourite designs to quilt, especially in a shape that changes widths like this one. Wishbones are so forgiving - they don't have to be perfect to look good and they can be made any size to fit the shape you're trying to fill. They also work nicely to flow from one shape into another when you have a long line of connected blocks.

It took a bit longer to decide how to quilt the blue squares. I wanted something simple that would connect from block to block like the wishbones. I love when I can quilt a whole line across a quilt without needing to break the thread! Eventually I settled on a spiral that enters the block in one corner, spirals into the center, then back out, and exits the block in the opposite corner. I can guarantee you no two spirals are the same! Thankfully they still look good, even with the variations.

Then it was time to quilt the background. "Just quilt a good-size stipple," I told myself. That sounded like a good idea, especially since it would be quick for filling in all that space. Of course, I then proceeded to quilt a very dense stipple, which was not at all quick. Oops! My default is still to quilt very small, even when I'm intending to quilt larger. I do love how it looks, though, so that's good.

With the three different quilting designs, the texture on the back is amazing!

I chose three blue solids to use for a scrappy binding and I love how they frame the quilt without really drawing attention. I also love how the quilt looks with the ocean in the background 😊 We haven't seen any whales yet this summer, but hopefully that will change soon.

If you love scrappy, stash-friendly patterns, like Skip Ahead, and virtual sewing sessions with friends, join us in Stash Artists!

That's my finish, what have you finished lately? Link it up below and then be sure to visit some of the other quilters to celebrate their finishes, too.

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