Jake's quilt

I finished up the baby strippie quilt this morning with enough time to take pictures and get a label on it before dashing to get ready for the drive to the party.

I originally thought I would add red rickrack into the binding but it seemed too "girly" somehow so I left it out.

The initials were cut out of some leftover furry fleece and satin stitched on. I made the decision not to switch from the walking foot that was already on the machine and I think that helped keep it smooth.

This backing is reading orange in the photo but is red flannel with a brown spacer I had to add when I discovered my MATH problem I mentioned earlier.  You can see the very simple edge to edge quilting I did.  Quilting was pretty easy with my new sewing desk's extension table and the Machingers gloves. 

Here's the pattern I made on my computer for the initials.  I had recently read on someone else's blog that they used a font that was 436% of normal to make a pattern.  So I experimented and this J is 750% of normal for the font I chose, making the letter about 7 inches tall.   So much easier than drawing freehand!  I cut 1/8" outside the pattern line to allow for the width of the satin stitching.  Hint: Choose a light gray color to print out your pattern so you don't waste ink. 

Jake's Pumpkin Patch was the party theme and orange the color of the day.  There were orange drinks, orange ice cubes, orange candies, orange cupcakes, and plenty of orange decorations, all made by Jake's mom and grandma.  That's Jake in his mother's arms with his cute faux-hawk hairdo.

Check out the terrific scarecrow and his raven!

Jake got a pumpkin cake all his own to dig into.  I think some of the cake did actually get into his tummy!

The rest of us ate these adorable cupcakes.  The icing was melting, however, because it was HOT today, probably about 95 degrees at midday when the party took place.  Jake's parents chose not to open the gifts until after the party so we didn't get to see the reaction to the quilt.  I hope they like it!