Keith's Baby Quilt Enlarged - Red, White, Blue Pieced Ombre Stars

This is what I was doing as the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve.

Something that’s been on my to-do list for quite some time. The first photo is the small quilt I made for my first grandchild. It has a queen size quilt to match it for when he’s older (last photo). However, it took me long enough between the time I planned it and the time it was done that I forgot I had planned to put a border on it until long after it was finished and gifted. Ugh! Every time I saw it, I kicked myself for having done it wrong. I told myself that someday I would add the border.

But a couple things I had to keep in mind was that after being washed, a cotton quilt shrinks a bit. This has been loved and washed a lot, so the current dimensions are not the same as what it was originally, nor, if I made the borders to match the current size, the borders would then shrink and the shape would be wonky, but I also didn’t want there to be gathers or have a ruffle-y border. How to do it was something I thought about a long, long time.

Well, this Christmas break, while my daughter and kids were visiting, I borrowed the quilt, took off the binding, sewed on the additions (for a time with 2 two-year-olds “helping”), quilted it and bound it before they left. I hope with time the borders shrink down to match the rest of the quilt, but if not, I guess it was another learning opportunity. Note to self: Fix errors before quilting.