Monday 14 April 2014

Baby quilt

So my best and oldest friend is having a baby and I wanted to give her something personal that she could hold onto for a long time, so it had to be a quilt!

I have never made a baby quilt before, I've made double, king size, lap, table runners - all of the above - but never a baby quilt.   So this was going to be a fun and quick project.

I went to my local fabric store and picked out some fabrics.  They don't know what they're having yet so the nursery is going to be lime green.  It's actually pretty hard trying to pick out fabrics without knowing the sex of the intended recipient... if you ask me there's not enough selection out there!  Anyway I found these lovely ones and thought I could do something with this little lot!


To start with anyway!  Once I decided what pattern I was doing I needed to buy some extra bits and pieces.  

I eventually decided on the Log Cabin design.  I just loved how easy it was to make up when I made my Kingsize Quilt last year, so I decided to go with that pattern


I used the pattern book 'Quilt in a Day' series, which is great.  I'd really recommend that series of quilt pattern books.  They're just super easy to follow.  Really good, clear instructions.

You start off by cutting your fabric into strips.  


The idea is you get 3 lights, 3 darks and a centre square.    Here are mine cut and ready to go!

Then you simple take your first fabric and the centre square and sew them together (right sides together)

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Then you open those up and cut into squares.  Here are mine having a good press


In quilting - it's important to know which way to press your fabrics - as it all comes together in the end and you want to be able to not only align your fabric, but when it comes to quilting you want as few bumps as possible.



Then you basically keep going in that vain, adding another strip, trimming


Adding another strip, trimming, pressing and so on


Until you get one complete square!


I managed to cut off the outside edge on this pic but you get the idea!

Then once you have all your quilt squares you need to decide on a layout. 

This is the tricky part!  Well it is if you're like me and bad at making decisions!

See the different effects you can get just by laying out the squares differently


 



Do you see how the light and dark comes in too?

Anyway I went for this one - the Zig Zag! 


  

So then it was just a case of sewing the squares together.  Your pressing becomes really important here as you want everything to sit nicely together.



Here's a better picture of the squares!  I love that chick fabric.  It's beyond cute.


I loved it so much I used it in my border.  I liked the pea one too.


So then you have to pin your quilt to stop it from slipping when you put it through your machine.  This is the bit I hate the absolute most!  Bent over a table, sticking in pins and usually pricking my fingers!  But there we go.  Some folk use the spray solution but I'm yet to be entirely convinced by this.

Then you quilt it!

I only have a wee machine so a baby quilt was just about right for the size of my machine!  Can you imagine the struggle I had with the King Size!  

Mind those pins!

I use the stitch in the ditch method of quilting, because my freehand machine quilting skills leave a lot to be desired.  Something I will improve upon.

Then whizz on the binding and here we are!


One complete quilt!  Oh and don't forget to label it!  I had a slight problem with my zig zag stitch so don't look too closely.  At this point I couldn't be bothered unpinning and starting again - I just wanted it finished!  But the label looks OK from a distance!\

Got it out in the post today.  Baby's due to arrive with us tomorrow.  Fingers crossed he/she likes it!