Turned out great - well done - you have reason to be proud of yourself!
As for packaging... If it were for show, rolling would probably be best, but since this quilt will be used and loved, it will be washed again and again, so you won't have to worry about it being folded for shipping... I would place it inside a large plastic bag inside the cardboard box (make sure you have another layer of cardboard on top and bottom where the folds join, to be safe in case someone decides to open the box using a knife - it's not just the recipients that open the boxes, but anywhere en route it might get opened for postal or customs inspection!). The plastic bag will safeguard against any accidents en route with rain, liquid spills from other packages, etc...
That baby will love this quilt to bits!

It looks great and I'm always so impressed with how much I learn with even a simple project!

Hoping you will have time to quilt with your busy life as a homeschooler of 3 boys!

Lynn

The idea for this quilt came from a pair of socks and the Baby Quilt contest this past Feb/March when Alex's grandbaby was due. I had to wait for the intended recipient to find out if she was having a boy or a girl, and then redesigned the quilt to suit her color choices instead of mine, and then slowly pieced the first 80% by hand and finished the rest of the piecing & the quilting by machine once back from my recent US trip, but it is DONE!!!


This is my 2nd quilt top to finish, and my FIRST start-to-finish that was done all by myself, no outside help at all. I am so proud!!! Imperfections and all, LOL!

I only ran out of bobbin thread once, thanks to the reminder here to keep an eye on it. And I only ran out of top thread once (while in process, I mean; I went through several small spools of thread!), but luckily that was just as I finished, whew!!!

I did diagonal quilting, following the outer edge of the large purple diamonds in each direction and then kept that spacing over the whole quilt. Then I went back with peach, following the criss-cross trim and kept *that* spacing over the whole quilt. This gave it all-over diagonal quilting that is roughly 2.5" apart.

I also did free-motion quilting inside the large diamonds; I made some scrolly hearts, facing each other, inside each section of diamond so that it echos the shape. These turned out so-so, but mostly okay. Good enough to still send the gift.

{!-- ia0 -->IMG_1551.JPG{!-- ia0 -->

Then I used satin ribbon/binding to finish it, and added a custom label on the back -- I have a friend who does embroidery so I had her create a label for me.

I'm excited it's done and ready to move on to the next project now! I have a comic strip quilt to finish for my son, and my Brazil quilt for Betty Jo's Architectural Challenge, plus a Christmas tree skirt.....

One Question ---- best way to package a quilt for shipping????? Since I didn't finish before the US trip, we want to mail it to her. Roll it? Fold it? What's the best way to do that?

And -- many continued thanks for the encouragement over the past months while I was working on this!