Quilt in a Jiffy???

Making a quilt is such a long, creative process. Who is the recipient of the quilt? What are their favorite colors? How will the quilt be used - bed quilt, lap quilt or picnic quilt? May be it will be just a wall quilt. Deciding upon the pattern is the most critical step in the process. And then pick out the fabrics, batting, backing and binding. And by the time someone like me (full time job and a long commute) completes a quilt, the seasons have changed. Well, it takes a month. So, how is it possible to make a quilt in one weekend? Let me explain...

Last week, I called a former co-worker, let's call him RT.

Hey, RT. How are things with you? I called your cell. Has your number changed?
   Hi Preeti. Nice to hear from you. Yes, I have a new cell now.
How is work?
   Busy, busy as ususal. How about yourself?
Good but busy too. I would love to have lunch with you sometime if you are in this area.
  Sure, that would be great. How about Wednesday?
Sounds great. Let me send you a meeting invite, just so you have it on your calendar.
  Yeah, that would be awesome.
Hey RT, I forgot to ask you how is your daughter doing?
  She is fine. And we also have a 3 week old baby boy.

YIKES!!!

I really wanted to make a quilt for the new baby boy. What can be made quickly, no very quickly. A quilt with panels - because half of the quilt (the panels) are already made.

I decided to repeat an earlier quilt - an ENCORE performance, if you will. I remade the Bear Hugs quilt. No thinking required :-D

I used jelly roll strips for the border.

The backing is cute and fit for a boy without being too obviously blue. I like it. Did you notice the very skinny green alligator?

How to make the binding process go really quickly? I stitched the binding to the back of the quilt.  Then, I turned it over to bring to the front and used a zig zag stitch to secure it to the front.

Here is my honest confession - I finished the top piecing, basting and quilting over the weekend. Monday and Tuesday were too busy for me to even look at the quilt :-(
The binding was completed on Wednesday morning. And the label was hand-sewn while I was in the Metro train commuting to work. PHEW!!! What a ride...

If you could read between the lines, it would say "Made in a Jiffy"

RT was touched when I gave him "Bear Hugs" (pun intended)!!! Ha Ha Ha...