Baby Sloth Quilt

A very old and dear friend is welcoming their first child next month and I am so happy for them!  I asked if they had a theme picked out for their nursery and they told me they were planning on doing a sloth theme.  I knew immediately what I was going to make for them:

I already own the Elizabeth Hartman sloth pattern and it was fun to revisit it!  I've used it twice before, first as a pillow in a swap and then as a centerpiece in my modified Gypsy Wife quilt.  Both of those sloths were sewn around 2017 and it's interesting to see the difference seven years makes.  I have a different machine now and my piecing is better; this one looks more like the one on the cover of the pattern than either of the other two.  The picture below captures the true colors of the quilt better.

I followed the pattern for the sloth itself exactly as written, but I extended the tree trunk up and down to make it a little taller and then added some side borders to make it wider.  I backed the quilt with a remnant of flannel novelty sloth fabric I found at my local quilt store.

I made this quilt "Project Quilting" style and finished it in a week.  Two days to piece the top, one day to baste and quilt it, and three days to hand-stitch the binding because I knew I had a month until the baby shower and there was really no rush to getting it done.  The quilting is a simple cross-hatch that I marked with my Hera pen and then stitched with my walking foot and the binding matches the sloth's body.

I love all the clever "add yours" filters that are on Instagram stories - doesn't the sloth look great as a large mural on a building?  I'm sure the baby and its parents will adore this sweet little quilt too!