Thread: Help with baby quilt design needed.

This is one I hope to make one day from Craftsy -
http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/quilt...t-pattern/5306

There are a lot of baby quilt ideas in our gallery: http://www.quiltingboard.com/blogs/q...ery-36607.html

There are plenty of options for piecing out there & other QB'ers have already given some great suggestions, but with 3 weeks to go & this being your first time quilting something, one option I'd consider is just making it a whole cloth quilt (with or without borders). The MM moon & stars fabric is beautiful enough that you wouldn't need to piece it if you don't want to. You could just get out a Crayola Ultra Clean marker & a straight edge and quilt straight lines every 2". You could make the lines diagonal if you want the quilting squares to be on point.

I did that for a client's quilt once because she wanted a baby quilt that featured fabric from her late husband's comforter to give to her new granddaughter. You need 1.5 yards of the MM fabric & 1.5 yards of your backing fabric. All I did was cut the fabric into a 38.5" x 48.5" rectangle. Then, I cut 3" wide strips for the borders (3.5" x 48.5" for each of the sides and 3.5" x 38" for the top & bottom). If you set your stitch length at 1.5mm (roughly 18 stitches/in), you can just press your seams open. You can buy a Craft/Crib size cotton batting. I really love Warm & Plush batting when I can find it (at Joann), but Warm & Natural is also a nice option.

Then, draw your lines on your quilt top with the Ultra Clean markers starting at the center. Work your way to each corner & then repeat in the opposite direction. Quilt using a walking foot with stitch length at 2.5 (12 stitches/inch), following the lines you drew. Cut your binding strips at 2.5" x Width of Fabric. You need to cut 5 of those strips. A 3/8 yard of the binding fabric should be sufficient, but I'd get 1/2 of a yard to be safe. If you've never made binding before, check out this video by McCall's to get a very, very detailed step-by-step tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=2&v=7Hha94oe3XA

Attach your binding & if you can, add a quilt label to the back with a sweet message or just a record that you were the one who made the quilt. Here's how:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByCUitoBDT8

I'll try & post a picture of the quilt I made later to show the result. Good luck! I'm sure whatever you decide will be just beautiful.

PS -- 50wt cotton thread for the quilting will help to hide any little errors one might make. I found using that weight of thread helpful when I was first learning to quilt because it nicely blended with my fabric, but was still strong enough to hold all 3 layers together with weekly washing as long as it's washed in cold & dried with low heat. My preferred brand is Aurifil -- available at LQS -- but there are many wonderful 100% cotton threads that are available in 50wt or 60wt.

One of the easiest quilt patterns in my opinion is the Triple Rail Fence. I taught it to a newbie quilter and hers turned out great. The key is in the fabrics and it is best if there is a little contrast. Good luck.

so many cute ideas... I ended up adding a few of the above mentioned to my shopping cart. : P
would love to know which one you decide on... and don't forget to post a picture