Little Apples Baby Quilt and more QALs

First of all thankyou so much for all your kind words about my sandwich wrap tutorial last week! They were a great hit with my kids. Apparently they both used the wraps like little picnic blankets and spread their lunch out like a little picnic - sweet!

A school-friend of mine has just had a baby boy. I had always planned to make a quilt for the baby, and knew in the back of my head her baby was due at the end of August.
Suddenly the baby is here and I hadn't given much thought to the quilt!
After a bit of a panic, I grabbed a Little Apples charm pack I treated myself to, and whipped up this super quick and simple baby quilt top. I wanted all the squares to be colourful so I switched the mainly white squares with some leftover It's a Hoot by Momo charms.

I added those white squares to the back, along with some It's a Hoot by Momo and little scraps of Denyse Schmidt.
The green stripe is from Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt. I got this on sale and love using it for quilt backs :)

I would really appreciate soem advice on how to quilt it. I'm still a total novice at free-motion quilting but was thinking about trying a meandering pattern to soften all those squares, what do you think?
I'm tempted to go with what I know and just straight line quilt it, but if I don't practice FMQ I'll never learn.

I'm still behind but in the Summer Sampler Series QAL but I'm getting there. I really love these blocks, and I've learned so much so far.
I'm still not sold on paper-piecing, I just can't cope with the amount of wasted fabric, but I'm really glad I gave it a go. I love the sharp accuracy you get. I managed to use a lot of the odd shaped and little strips in the string block though, so I'm happy. Only 2 blocks to go :)

And finally I've fallen off the wagon again and joined another QAL. I just couldn't resit the Across the Sea QAL hosted by Sarah of Fairy Face Designs and Jennifer of Ellison Lane Quilts
I've chosen Joel Dewberry's Heirloom line, which I got from the lovely Brenda at Pink Castle Fabrics and I've popped a couple of solids in too. The grey on the left is my choice for background. I'm really excited about this QAL. I think it's going to be a cozy quilt the lives on my sofa. I can just picture myself snuggled up on a chilly evening, with a glass of wine in my hand and the dog snoozing on my feet :)
Hope you have a great week!
Fiona x

Hexagons

 Okay I've given up! I said I wasn't going to join any more Quilt Alongs, and I really really meant it!

Then along came the Doll Quilt Swap round 11, and it was just too perfect for me to resist signing up.

Then came the Skill builder sampler. Now I love a sampler quilt and my skills could do with building...

Next came the Summer Sampler Series QAL... again, love the sampler thing and the blocks they are using just sang to me........

Now Lynne at Lily's Quilts is doing a Hexalong....... I give up!!!!!

Happy Tuesday :)