Many thanks to all of you who gave me advice about quilting this quilt. It was a very interesting first-time process. Normally I'm really compulsive about perfection when I sew, but not this time. I used echo quilting in matching thread for each section. As you can see, the back section is crooked - what I like to think of as "whimsical" and "creative" as opposed to "screwed up" - ha,ha. I practiced with free motion quilting because I loved the advice about free-form stars in the top section but I could not get it right, so in the end I used a walking foot and straight stitching. Next time I would make my lines further apart. It took me forever! Anyway, I'm very happy with the result and appreciate all the feedback I got before I started. Happy Quilting!

Okay, that gets my vote for most original quilt, and cutest too!!!

It turned out real nice. I like it. Two thumbs up on the quilting! :D :D

Turned out great.

It's adorable! This quilt must have a story... okay, what is it? :lol:

Great job.

This quilt was designed by Benares Angeley. It is featured in the book Quilts, BABY! : 20 Cuddly Designs to Piece, Patch and Embroider by Linda Kopp. There are some great ideas in that book and I highly recommend it as a source of inspiration. The original quilt was made out of a curtain, hand-dyed silk and vintage upholstery fabric and was hand-stitched and tied rather than quilted. I decided to add the words to the back of the quilt because I loved the name Red Shoe Dog. It is going to be a new-baby gift for a couple I know who are quite non-traditional. I loved the pattern because of the great primary colors. Plus, I love dogs. If I could figure out a way for my yellow lab to wear a crown like that, I'd do it as he is the prince of our house.

That turned out great! I don't think the back looks crooked at all.

Just curious, your quilting is so close, is it very stiff? Is it still flexible enough for a baby quilt? Doesn't matter because it would make the cutest wall hanging for a baby's room too!

Awesome job FMQ.

The quilt was pretty stiff when it was finished, but I just got done washing and drying it and it really softened up. That also seemed to make the quilting stand out more. The fabric I used was pretty stiff to begin with even though I pre-washed it; I think the stiffness helped when I was sewing the lines because everything stayed in place when I was tugging it around. I had to laugh when I was doing the quilting because I saw some quilting tutorials on YouTube where they were saying, "Relax your shoulders when you quilt" and I thought that seemed like kind of a goofy thing to say, but I totally got it as I went along. Between my tongue sticking out and my hunched up back I felt like I had been in a wrestling match at the end of the day.