Finish #6

 I may not be racking up a lot of finishes this year, but at least this one will never make my UFO list! I cut this baby quilt out early this year, just in case I needed a baby boy quilt for someone who ended up having a girl. I do actually need a baby boy quilt, but this one is not right for the family having a boy. I do know someone who is who hoping for more kids and this one would be great for them so I'm putting it aside instead of donating it.

This is the same type of quilt as my last scooter quilt finish, but I really like putting hexies and triangles together. The hexies on this are from a Grand Canyon National Park panel. The panel had four smaller pictures. I cut hexies out of my favorite pictures, and cut up the fourth picture into triangles. I made a very similar baby quilt last year in the same colors, but I used a different panel in that one. 

It's kind of funny, but when I started quilting I didn't like using panels. I think in my head I was thinking they had to be used as intended, which killed my creativity. Now that I've used panels in multiple ways, including sometimes as intended 😉 I find I enjoy using them more and more. There are some great panels out there, and now I find myself looking for them instead of shying away from them. They are especially useful if I need a themed quilt, but don't want to spend much money on fabric. One panel packs a lot of punch, so one panel mixed with stash and voila, themed quilt on a budget!

Just as I'm really enjoying using panels, Fabric Cafe just came out with a book to use panels. Panel Perfect 3 yard quilts would be a great introduction to using panels if you have shied away from them too. Panels really are fun to use once you jump in and start using them.