low volume plus baby quilt

Pinterest had me drooling over low volume quilts recently, so I finally gave one a go. A co-worker was due to have a baby boy in December, so that settled it! 

I followed this for cutting dimensions. I thought I'd have enough low-volume scraps to use, but it was hard finding enough 5x5 squares to fit the bill, and I had to cut into some fat quarters and bigger fabric pieces. It was fun revisiting some of the cute animal prints that have showed up in past baby quilts. 

obligatory floor layout shot

For the plusses, I had a fat quarter bundle set of all the 2013 new Robert Kauffman Kona colors, so as you can see, I pulled out shades of blue and turquoise. I added a Kona Snow border to bump up the size a bit (so it's about 40" square).

For the quilting, I did lines around each 12" block, then stitched-in-the-ditch around each plus sign (you can really tell on the back). And good ole Lotta for the binding. For the back, I was able to use  this nice Anna Maria Horner light blue print (I picked up a pretty sizable remnant at Textile, so no need for piecing the backing). 

Here's me and the mom-to-be at the office baby shower (complete with giant computer monitor in the background): 

Welcome, baby Ethan!!!