"Life's a Hoot!" Baby Quilt Finished!

The owl baby quilt is done and done!  It's a good thing, too, since I started this before my nephew was born, and he is 4 months old now :)  Actually, it works out quite well since he is working on turning over and I made this to be used as a play mat.

I used flannel for the main part of the quilt. It's very soft, but I'm a little disappointed in how it fuzzed up after just one wash. Oh, well - it just adds to the charm, right?

I added a few free-motion stars in the window panes.

I gave him a little vest, too.

Now to wrap it up and send it off! A birthday present for my niece will accompany it- I had to make something for her, too, of course. I'll save that for the next post, though.

Life's a Hoot! Baby Quilt

My sister just had a baby boy and she chose owls for the nursery- so cute! I wanted to make a play quilt for him, and I couldn't believe it when I saw this pattern on the front of the Spring issue of Quilts and More. The quilt even used the exact same fabric (Hooty Hoot for Riley Blake designs) that my sister had chosen for her curtains and crib bedding!

I wanted this to be a quilt that he could play on, so I decided to add some texture with different types of fabrics. The background is flannel, the moon is satin, the owl body is velvet with ribbon loops for the feet, and the branch is corduroy.

This was my first attempt at applique on a quilt, and I was really nervous about how it would turn out, especially using the different types of fabric. But I was surprised by how smoothly it went.

Now I *just* have to quilt and bind it!

I made the backing a little too short, and now I need to add fabric somewhere to lengthen it. I'm not sure what would look good- any suggestions?