Heaven's Gate baby quilt

On Saturday, the weather was absolutely beautiful........no wonder----November !

(old Benny Hill line--No birds, no bees, no flowers, no trees........no wonder--November !

Anyway, I took advantage of a beautiful afternoon, and I basted the little quilt on my front deck. It probably took me about an hour, I'd say.

I went to machine-quilt it today, and noticed that the top was sort of rumply compared to the back. I must have had the backing stretched a little tight in the basting frame. I know to watch out for that, but apparently I wasn't quite careful enough. Still, the center of the quilt went through the machine fairly trouble free, with only a little fudging, and when I got ready to mark the borders, I unbasted them, and re-basted, easing the fullness out to the edges.

I decided to hand-quilt the edges in a big country-stitch. I tried machine-quilting, but the design didn't lend itself well to that method........too much twisting and too much starting and stopping of the design. I finished one border tonight, so just three to go, and then the decision on what to use for the binding.

This new version of Fairfield's 80/20 cotton batting is wonderfully soft. It is more finished like a Warm and Natural cotton batting, kindof blanket-like, rather than the resiny-feeling of the old Cotton Classic. I don't know if I'd be able to get small stitches with my hand-quilting.......I'm intentionally making larger stitches for this border. But I love the feel that this batting is giving this little quilt. The true test will be in the final washed and dried product.