What do you do when baby arrives early?

I had all these elaborate plans on making a fabulous "superhero" quilt, but the little man arrived EARLY! Egads! I rushed out and found a superhero cape panel. Well what can you do with something like that? I took it apart and re-assembled (in a hurry !) I added extra pieces with the colours Momma requested, and added "Jacob" to the front.

Hanging it isn't quite as nice as displayed on a fence or somewhere with more pizazz -- but it is nice and square when laid flat! The colours are bright and should keep the little man occupied when he's having tummy time on the floor!

My great longarm quilter Karen did a fabulous job! I love how she has the stars in there. She backed it with incredibly cozy Cuddlesoft in a bright red! I just wanted to wrap myself up in it! It's a great weight!

I am new to machine applique and did have a nice satin stitch around the pieces. Once it was complete with the binding, I put it in the wash. I pulled it out and many of the edges were unraveling -- thus having to go on TOP of the applique's again and re-do it with a wider stitch. It worked! Yeah! saved! I always wash my quilts before handing them over  to make sure everything holds and puckers nicely. Unfortunately my photo's do not show as well on here, but I grabbed a couple of quick photo's with my point and shoot. The quilt is already to go to new baby!

I wanted to add a fun binding but I didn't want it to look like a candycane by placing it on a diagonal. It sure does add some more interest to it. Binding is my favorite part of the quilting process believe it or not! I love sitting in front of the TV with a cozy quilt on my lap, hand stitching the binding to the back.  I challenge myself every time to make smaller and smaller stitches to near invisibility. Just to see the finished product is worth it -- even if it's a quick quilt! 

Only one more to go -- but that particular little man is staying put for a couple more weeks! I'll be crossing my fingers that he holds out for his due date so I can take some more time for this one! Again, some more applique! SIGH.... maybe with each one that I do, I learn more and more? If anything, I won't be making the same mistakes!

If any of you have any tips on how to get that nice finished product via machine, let me know! I would love to hear how you get it done! (Without having to un-sew and say choice words throughout the process!)

Happy Quilting everyone!