Planet Quilt

This project has been in the works since August and I'm so excited to have it finished and gifted to my new baby nephew! 

My sister was having her baby in September, so I started this quilt in late August. Perfect timing, right? Haha. I knew she was going with a planet theme for the baby room so I started clicking around on Pinterest for ideas. This Deep Space Quilt is so cute and my quilt is definitely inspired by it! 

So back in August, our family was having a get together and I decided (about an hour before) to have each family member make a planet. I threw all the fabric and fusible web in a bag and took it to the party. It was pretty fun having them create the planets and I love how they turned out! 

Once the planets were created, I got to work sewing down the details and assembling the quilt top. I thought it would be fun to make the planets a little puffy. I cut disks of batting for each one and gathered the edges around with a running stitch. Next, I hand stitched the planets to the background and raw edge appliqued all the little bits, like stars and asteroids. 

It took me awhile to decide on the quilting. I started with machine quilting on the sun and then continued with straight lines radiating out from the sun points. The sun pattern is My Compass from the book Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration by Denyse Schmidt. I only made two spiky rounds instead of the three in the pattern. 

I tried some fun machine quilting on the planets, too. My free motion skills are not good but I do like how they turned out! 

I also used navy and white perle cotton thread for the big stitch quilting arcs. Then I decided to stitch the Milky Way complete with my nephew, sister and brother in law's constellations. I love how that part turned out! 

To keep the space feel, I used matching navy blue for the binding. 

The back has this cute moon phases fabric. 

The label is huge but I love it because I was able to get everyone who made a planet, rocket or space ship to sign it this last weekend when everyone was home for Easter! 

I'm so happy I was able to finally meet this cute little guy! Auntie Jen got lots of baby snuggles in last week. 

This project is definitely my new favorite. I used so many techniques to put it together! The best part was creating it with my family, though. I think we made something pretty special together! 

Planet Quilt
42" x 60"
Planets made by my family and me 
Assembled and quilted by me. 

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts