The Little Gem Project

Like any great quilter, I have several projects going on at once. I have put off everything (except "the little gem") to work on my special quilt. The little gem is a baby quilt that I should have done... oh, sometime last week. But, I am always a day late on deadlines so I am still plugging away on this baby quilt that has literally been the quilt from HELL! And I am lovingly calling it "little gem" because they are often worth the trouble. This little gem was suppose to be a quick and easy... the thought was that I would do a nicer quilt when the kid is older. Babies really don't use quilts, kids do. This little gem started out as a pieced quilt panel with flannel backing. Here's the chain of events that have lead me astray... 1) Washed quilt panel and it let go a TON of fuzzies, which won't go away... even after a second washing. 2) Flannel backing not only shrunk horribly when washed BUT it bled. The brown in it left a inconsistent batik-like pattern across the flannel's horizontal stripes. A second washing only made it worse. 3) To remedy the shrunk flannel backing, I decided to add a border on top with an applique of the child's name. That part didn't go so bad but became more time consuming as this was suppose to be a QUICK AND EASY. 4) I started to layer the panel over the flannel backing (I decided against batting as I want the quilt to be warm but not heavy; possible baby suffocation danger) and the panel has stretched. When, I don't know because I remember being super careful when pressing BUT alas, there it is; not necessarily a rectangle but a oddish parallelogram. And trimming the edge won't work, as I said it was a panel and comes with a border already attached. 5) Lastly, and where I stopped for the night. I ran out of stinking safety pins when pinning my sandwich quilt. I refuse to buy anymore because I know there are two UFO's that are pinned and when I finally quilt those, I will have about 5x more safety pins than I currently have in this darling little gem of a quilt. I hope the receiver (and his parents) of this Little Gem appreciates the love and heartache I have put into it because I wouldn't do it for anyone else!