Deer + Birds = Love

I have a finished quilt to share with you today! It's actually been finished for over a week, but it needed to reach it's home before I could blog about it.  Introducing...Deer + Birds = Love. Get it? It's a PLUS quilt with Deer and Birds? I know, I can hear you groaning.

My sister is expecting in November and I made this quilt for my future niece or nephew. This is the first quilt I've made for my sister which makes it really special for me.

I used two charm packs of Oh My Deer, which I bought in Salt Lake City at Sewing Summit in 2012. I probably have close to a whole pack worth of squares left, because I wanted to only use prints that read as a single colour, so that the pluses would be visible. It's a very simple design and the construction went quickly. I particularly like how the bird print, which sits in the middle of each plus, is noticeably larger than the deers and dots. Again, I think this helps draw the eye to the plus design.

I quilted this using a leftover spool of Sulky Blendables from my Happy Melon Quilt. The quilting is simple: straight lines about 1/4 inch on either side of every seam. I continue to love the effect of  straight line echo quilting. You really can't go wrong with it, particularly with simple patchwork like this.

The quilt back is Valori Wells flannel from her Bliss line. I've used it twice: here and in Lila's yet-to-be-finished quilt. It's extremely soft and I love the elephants!

This is the first time I've remembered to include a label. I couldn't decide whether to date it September, when the quilt was finished, or November when the baby is due. Then I thought, what if the baby doesn't arrive until December and the quilt has the wrong month listed?! Hence, the label reads"Quilted with love by Auntie Lisa, 2013." I used the alphabet function on my Janome Horizon, another first! Unfortunately, the letters doesn't show up very well. I should have used darker thread. Next time!

The binding is from Marmalade by Bonnie and Camille. As you know from my recent stash enhancements, I love a striped binding!

My sister and her husband received the quilt by mail today and they love it, which gives me a real thrill. They said that it's their first family heirloom and they want to hang it on the wall and then pass it down, but I'm trying to convince them that quilts are made to be used! At 32x32 inches, it's the perfect size for a playmat or stroller quilt. I promised them there would be many quilts in their future so there was no need to memorialize this one!