Spring 2020. This quilt was a special baby gift for a friend of mine. When I found out she was expecting, I went straight to Instagram and began thinking about what gift I could make. I had seen this quilt before and I loved the color palette and the sweet little bear. It took a bit to find the Moda kit for this quilt because it was a few years old. I finally found one and I was so excited to begin this quilt!

All of the fabrics in this kit are so cute! I enjoyed looking at them as I was pressing and cutting all the shapes. I’m tempted to see if I can snag another kit and make one for myself!

I was really pleased with how well every piece went together and it made for one beary cute quilt! I hung the finished quilt top on a lampshade for a quick photo. I love the way the light passes through the quilt!

The quilt top was finished in April and I was working my way toward owning my own longarm quilting machine later in the year. I knew I wanted to wait and longarm quilt the top on my own machine. Things fell into place and I did get my own longarm machine!! I’ll be blogging about it soon!

In October 2020, the longarm machine and software were set up and ready to go! After running some “test" quilts, I was finally ready to tackle it.

I used Glide thread in Linen and it blended beautifully into the background of the quilt and was subtle on the bear. This one was quilted with the Belladonna pantograph Hermione Agee.

The pantograph design mirrored the flowers on the backing of the quilt which I love! Although the backing fabric wasn’t from the same collection, it coordinated seamlessly with the front.

For the binding, I used an Aurifil Thread #2835 (Medium Mint) and it coordinated perfectly with the binding fabric Moda Bella Green #9900-65. I already hand the thread on hand and I was so pleased when it matched so well! I stitched in the ditch on the front of the quilt with Aurifil Thread #2021 (Natural White) and Medium Mint in the bobbin. With a slight tension adjustment, the threads met perfectly in the middle of the quilt - no mint on the front, no white on the back!

He’s a big one, finishing at 59.5”x70"!

When it was finished, the quilt got treated to some glamour shots! I really love this one!

Quilt finished: November 18, 2020. Pattern: Big Sky Bear by Annie Brady. Fabrics for top: Moda Big Sky Bear Kit featuring Big Sky fabric by Annie Brady. Backing fabric: Flower Toss Desert Green by Elizabeth Hartman. Binding Fabric: Moda Bella Green #9900-65. Quilted with the Belladonna Pantograph by Hermione Agee.

Big Sky Bear - Quilt #20