Baby Quilts

Baby Quilts 

 A few weeks ago I got to take home some flannel scraps for baby quilts. I was especially charmed by the pretty pinks, oranges, and yellows!

I started with 1/4 yard of four different flannels for the top, and 1 yard of flannel for the backing. From each 1/4 yard, I was able to cut 16 (4.5 inch square) blocks.

I choose two fabrics to form a block (four blocks are pictured)

Blocks ready to sew

Using my 1/4 inch presser foot

All seams pressed in the same direction

When rectangle is inverted, seams on back will point in opposite directions

Squares sewn in strips of four

Each strip sewn to form the square quilt top

Each square is pinned and ready to be tied

Finishing Method #1

 

I wanted to try something different for this quilt. Instead of binding it, I put the wrong sides together and sewed a 1/2 inch seam around the outside. Then I cut 1/4 inch snips every 1/4 inch around the outside. I hoped that when I washed it it would make a fluffy fringe. It didn't look perfect, but I thought it was cute!

It got a little wrinkly in the wash :(

Finishing Method # 2

For the girl blanket, I opted to go with a 2 inch border and binding.

After sewing the border, I used the embroidery function on my machine to do a little snowflake in the middle of each square. I started in the center of the quilt and worked my way out. This ended up being much quicker and prettier than tying it myself.

Snowflake embroidery

1 1/4 inch binding - cut with the grain of the fabric and machine sewn (as opposed to bias cut, mitered corners, and hand stitched)

So...I ran out of steam to talk about how I actually did the binding. Sorry! The reason I put all this on here is because these are the sorts of things that I wonder about. And I forget how to do it if I don't write it down for myself.

 

The Girl Quilt - I love it!

Americana Table Runner - A Homemade Christmas Gift

I decided to try some homemade Christmas gifts this year. My goal was to make items that were unique and personal, but that didn't appear too "homemade" (like, "Here, I drew this picture for you!"). 

This summer I visited a pottery shop in Pigeon Forge. It had quilted table runners, place mats, and pot holders. I wanted to buy them all, but decided that I could probably make some of those things myself. Besides, it's no fun to visit an All-American town and find that your pot holder was made in India.

A few weeks later I found a quilting book with directions for a quilted table runner, so I decided to give the table runner a try. Nice thing about table runners: they don't have too much fabric, so they're easier to work with than a full sized quilt.

Or so I thought. The second set of instructions had a measurement mistake. I ended up having to cut and re-cut my diamonds all through the quilt, along with the borders. Sigh...

Diamonds for the star

I love Americana!

Starting to look like the picture...

"Setting in" took some practice     

Once the top was pieced, it was beautiful! I couldn't wait to finish it, so I went ahead and sewed on the back and the binding. Mistake number two. 

 

I started quilting the top and realized that everything was pulling the wrong way. In addition, I had cut the wrong size for the end borders. I had to undo all my quilting (any quilter knows that you're supposed to quilt before you bind, however, I am not a quilter), and I had to take off all the binding and the end borders. 

After I took the thing apart I cut new borders, binding, and filling, and redid the machine quilting by starting from the center and working my way out. In the end, it turned out all right, and I wouldn't mind making another!

Matching pot holders

The finished product!