I finished my first quilt!

I finally finished my very first quilt!  Making a quilt is something that I have wanted to accomplish ever since I taught myself to sew several years ago.  I have often admired the quilts that others have created, however I was a bit intimidated by the process.  After reading Denyse Schmidt Quilts and Joelle Hoverson's Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts, I felt I had the confidence to attempt my first quilt.  I found both of the books to be very valuable resources as I was making this quilt, and I referred to them often throughout the process.  I also found Comfortstitching's binding tutorial on her blog to be very helpful as well.  http://comfortstitching.typepad.co.uk/comfortstitching/making-and-sewing-binding.html   

Since this is my first quilt, I decided to make a smaller, crib size quilt for my youngest daughter, Baby C.  the quilt measures 30" by 43".  The front of the quilt is made up of precut 5 by 5 squares from a Heather Bailey Nicey Jane charm pack.  The white is a very soft Pima Cotton from my local quilting shop.  For the binding, I used a light pink Pima Cotton check.  The back of the quilt is my favorite fabric from the Nicey Jane collection.  For the batting, I used Quilters Dream Request cotton batting.  I really like this batting.  It was really easy to work with, and I really like how nice the quilt feels with this batting.  It created a very soft quilt.  I straight line quilted the quilt in a diamond pattern.  I used painter's tape as a guide, and I found the tape to be very helpful for achieving straight lines.  
My favorite part of the quilt is the hand embroidery that I did in the center of the quilt.  I embroidered her initial and name.  I think the hand embroidery makes the quilt more special.  I think I am going to try to add a hand embroidered element to most of the quilts that I make for my children. 

Now that I have finished my first quilt, my mind is swarming with ideas for future quilts.  This is a really addictive hobby.  I have already begun my son's quilt and now I have started cutting into my Munki Munki/ Heather Ross stash to create a quilt for my middle daughter.  I had a lot of fun creating these Munki Munki blocks.  I adore these fabrics and seeing them come together is a lot of fun.  I love the Munki Munki quilt that Comfortstitching created, and I am following her tutorial to create my blocks.  http://comfortstitching.typepad.co.uk/comfortstitching/2009/11/blocky-tutorial.html  I finished these six blocks pictured above, and I realized that I need to order some more Munki Munki fabric in order to be able to complete the quilt.  The quilt will be comprised of 15 blocks just like the one of Comfortstitching's blog.