Gray and white gingham baby quilt

I can't believe it's been nearly a year since my last quilting adventure! Yikes! I really do enjoy doing so many different types of projects, but that often means I don't do any one of them as often as I might like.

This was a refreshing bit of sewing, made for a family friend (Hi Blair!) who is expecting a baby soon. The gingham pattern left little to fret over. No selecting and coordinating prints. I do love that aspect of quilting, but it takes some time and brain power, both of which I could stand to have more of these days.

The finished quilt measured 34" x 52.5". My squares ended up being 5" finished, so 5.5" to start.

For the record, I was inspired by the design of this gingham quilt. I ripped it off, yellow binding and all.

To keep it looking lighter and more babyish, I made sure the edges were bordered with white & gray, not gray & dark gray. That avoids the whole dark frame effect that might look too heavy on a baby quilt.

As for fabric requirements, for the front, I bought half a yard of the dark gray, half a yard of white and a full yard of the lighter gray.

For the backing, I used a single 1.5 yard piece of fabric (Michael Miller Baby Zoology in Sea). It's really hard to find cute gender neutral prints, but I think this was a perfect choice.

I didn't have time to bind the quilt by hand, so I machine sewed the binding on this one. I tried a different technique and got better results sewing back side up instead of blindly sewing from the front side. Definitely sticking with this method for the next quilt. The fabric I used here was Robert Kaufman Metro Living Circles in Marigold.

See more quilts here >> 

Green patchwork squares baby quilt

For some reason, it seems I make quilts in pairs. On the heels of the baby quilt I showed you last week, I pieced together this simple patchwork squares quilt, measuring 40.5" x 51.5".

To cut down on the time factor, I made this one in the binding-less "pillowcase" quilt style (generally following this tutorial). I didn't set the stopwatch, but it didn't take much time at all. I think I had the top pieced together in a couple of hours and the whole thing together in a couple more. Definitely do-able in one day.

I quilted it with a walking foot, but in wavy lines. This is my first time not quilting straight lines, but I'm hoping to improve my skills in that area. Can't learn if you don't try!

All of the fabrics were things I had on hand already. The wiggly lines backing fabric is from a duvet cover I found on clearance at Target earlier this year.

This quilt is earmarked for donation. Not exactly sure where to yet, but possibly The Linus Project. (If anyone else has any experience with good places to donate handmade blankets, please leave a comment!)

I realized that I usually only sew when I have a need to sew (for gifts, etc.), but sewing infrequently isn't making me any better. I'm still very much a quilting beginner, and I need more practice than that. Pair that with the need to do some fabric de-stashing (before the prints start to look dated), and that means I need to make more quilts.

So I'm hoping to make a handful of baby/kid quilts in the coming year for donation. This might be a crazy thought knowing full well I am going to have very little free time once baby #2 arrives, but I'm going to try to keep the quilts uncomplicated and unfussy. And maybe I can squeak in a few before she gets here.

Herringbone half-square triangle baby quilt

She may not yet have a name or a place to sleep, but, by golly, baby girl has a quilt.

I felt like I needed to start challenging myself a bit, so I decided to tackle the half-square triangle quilt, or HST. Supposedly easy and a gateway to fancier quilting. Truthfully, it wasn't that much harder than simple patchwork squares, just the extra step of making the triangle squares. (There's a great shortcut for that at In Color Order.)

The herringbone pattern was inspired by this grey and white quilt, but I don't have enough restraint to only use neutrals in a situation like this.

The taupe polka dot fabric on the back is vintage yardage from my grandma. I had been saving it to use especially in a quilt for this baby. Gender neutral! The rest of the back was pieced with Alexander Henry "Market Stalls" print (which inspired the whole color palette to begin with) and scraps from the quilt top.

The quilting itself is easier to see on the back. I followed the peaks and valleys creating a fun zig zag pattern.

I am so in love with quilts with striped bindings. I couldn't resist giving it a try myself.

It's so not perfect, but I still love how it turned out. This is only my fifth quilt, so I think I am making progress!

p.s. I forgot to note the size above. It's 38" by a long-ish 55".

Baby quilt: Summer stripes

As soon as I finished Elise's quilt, I started on another. The sure sign of addiction. This time, a baby quilt for a friend expecting a girl next month. (Hi Rita!)

I couldn't resist making something pink and colorful and summery, especially for a baby girl with a big brother.

This is (again) simply pieced and quilted, but it puts the focus on the patterns themselves. I wanted the front and back to relate to each other, so I made sure to incorporate most of the prints on the back on the front also.

It's a fairly large crib quilt at 40.5" x 50.5" and took me about 12 hours total (including finishing the binding by hand). I used a few of the same fabrics I used on Elise's quilt, but with a brighter color palette, they look totally different.

You'll also probably recognize that nesting doll/matryoshka fabric I used on the party favor coin purses. I love love the long strip of them all in a row.

p.s. In case you are worried, I promise this won't turn into a quilts-only blog. In fact, no more quilts in the pipeline for now! Well, until inspiration strikes again.

Modern patchwork stripes twin quilt

Elise's quilt is finished! And I love it.

Elise loves it too. It's a twin size for her new big girl bed (more on that at a later date) and it ended up being 63.5" x 85" (post washing). I was aiming for a bit larger for each dimension, but it seems I always lose a few inches trimming it up at the end.

This Michael Miller Children at Play Balloons fabric inspired my color palette for the entire quilt. Pinks, corals, aquas, grays and white. I loved it the minute I saw it. 

I spent a lot of my life disliking things like hearts and pink, but now I find myself totally drawn to them. I guess that's what having a little girl will do to you! (Even if said little girl couldn't care less about such things.)

The squares started out 6"x6" (so 5.5" finished size) and the white stripes started out 4" high (3.5" high finished).

I used a mixture of designer prints and "non-designer" prints from the big fabric stores. Michael Miller is well represented here, but there are also souches of Anna Maria Horner and Riley Blake. And a few from Jo-Ann under the DS Quilts label. There's also one of those cheapie fat quarters rolls they sell for a buck in there, but I challenge you to figure out which one it is.

The solid white is Kona and the large swath of gray on the back is another solid quilting fabric, both from Jo-Ann.

Total time spent on this quilt was about 27-28 hours (spread out over a month or so). I'm pretty sure I'm not going to make another quilt this large until I have another kid to make it for! I'm ready to work on something with more immediate gratification!

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Other posts in this series:

1. Planning and cutting

2. Assembling the quilt top

3. Assembling the quilt back

4. Quilting

5. Binding

Simple stripe baby girl quilt

When I saw this striped fabric, I knew it would be perfect for a baby quilt for my friend Katie. (Visit her blog, Charmed Earth!) She's having a girl, and I couldn't resist making something girly and colorful.

The quilted lines are every 1.5 to 2 inches, following the stripey print on the back side. I used a coral colored thread (just a shade darker than the coral fabric) and sewed only along similarly colored lines in the print.

The finished dimensions of this baby quilt ended up being about 38.5 x 44 inches. The wide stripes on the front were each about 9 inches tall, finished (so 9.5 inches including seam allowance).

If you are looking to make something similar, you'd need:

• 3/4 yard solid for front
• 1/2 yard print for front
• 1 1/2 yards print for back
• 1/2 yard for binding

(The cuts of fabric I had were a little generous, and my fabric didn't shrink much in the pre-wash, so I was able to cut those 9.5 inch stripes from "3/4" and "half" a yard. If you want to match 9.5 inches exactly, you might want to order extra fabric. Or you could just go with slightly thinner 8 or 8.5 inch stripes.)

A simple quilt like this is a good place to start if you want to make a quilt, but are intimidated by cutting and piecing tiny pieces or blocks. It certainly comes together much faster too. 

I didn't keep track, but I would estimate this one took me about five to seven hours. I finished the binding by hand this time, so that took a little longer, but I'm super happy with the way it turned out.

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My first quilt: Modern green brick pattern

It was only a matter of time before I ventured into the world of quilting. I could only resist the allure of combining multitudes of printed fabrics for so long. But for a long time, I viewed quilting as sort of a secret club, filled with tradition and history.

But you know what? It's not. Quilting is just another hobby. Anyone's allowed to quilt. There's not a huge learning curve. If you have a working sewing machine and can sew a straight line, you're already half way there.

Sure, it requires a bit of math and can be time-consuming, but it shouldn't be intimidating, especially when tackling simple straight-line patterns.

Because this is my first quilt, I decided not get too fancy with the piecing pattern or the quilting itself. Instead, I wanted to play to my strengths which are a) coordinating prints and colors and b) creating a nice "randomization."

I stuck with a simple brick pattern based on this quilt I saw at Red Pepper Quilts. It looks a bit more complex than a basic square grid, but I don't think it was any more complicated to put together.

My "bricks" were 3" x 9" with a quarter-inch seam allowance, and I did 20 rows of bricks. The final size was approximately 39" x 50". At least that's what I planned; I forgot to take measurements of the finished product before gifting.

I machine sewed everything including the quilting and the binding. All the fabrics, the batting and threads I used were 100% cotton.

The recipient of this quilt is my friend Kim's baby boy-to-be. (Yes, my first quilt and it's not for my own child. Don't feel too sorry for her. Before she was born, she got not one, not two, not three, but SIX handmade quilts and blankets. She's not lacking in the blanket department.)

It's not perfect by any means. I'm not going to win any awards for my stitchery as you can see in the photo above. (Experienced quilters: please, try not to laugh.) But it was made with lots of love.

I'm already brewing up the next one in my brain and have started collecting fabrics. I'm thinking something girly for Elise in a twin size, but there are just too many options to pin it down any further!

Beginner quilting resources I found helpful:

The Practical Guide to Patchwork: New Basics for the Modern Quiltmaker*

Machine Quilt Binding 101 at Prudent Baby

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