ok, first off, I havent even registered til today to comment on posts, but have been looking at this site for a good 3 years??? i think. I figured i would never leave this site commenting because of commenting and oogling...i already spend a ton of time oogling, lol well anyway, i must say you all do beautiful work and even though i have made lots of projects, i still dont measure up...maybe just not quite the quilter, but i love doing it anyway. or maybe i am just too critical.

anyway, back to my subject. I found out I am going to have a baby in April, and well, i dont even know the sex of my little construction project yet...but i HAVE TO make a blanky for it, as i have done with many other friends' babies. here's my problem. this is MY baby, so how do i decide which pattern to use...colors aren't an issue since there are so many colors i dont need to go flowery or sporty, it can be a nice "neutral". and i know babies dont care as long as they are comfy and warm...but i do. So how in the world do i choose the right pattern?????

Congragulations! What an exciting time. Pick a pattern you love but that is not above your skill level so you'll enjoy working on. Something that makes you happy and that you'll enjoy having around for a long time to come. What kinds of quilts do you like to look at the most? Sampler quilts? Stars? Interlocking patterns? Blocks with sashing separating each one? Applique? Plan to use good quality fabrics as a baby quilt that is actually used to wrap the baby will be washed many, many times (for some reason babies have a lot of little "urps" and accidents!) Or maybe you'll prefer to make a wall hanging that will set the theme of the nursery and will be more of a keepsake. You could plan matching crib ruffle and curtains. Whatever you decide will be right, and made with a lot of love. And remember, you can always make more than one! Best wishes!

Welcome from NE CA. Glad you decided to speak up and introduce yourself. I think Teacup is right about the pattern and fabrics, even the wallhanging is a great idea. Congratulations!!!

Congrats & Welcome to the board. Like teacup said pick something you love and you can't go wrong.

Maybe when you find out what your baby's gender is, you'll narrow it down a little? Or if your chomping at the bit, you could make two, or make a pastel, which can be for a boy or a girl.
There are books with just baby quilts, and if you go to hardware/lumber stores, such as Home Depot or Lowe's, they have books to decorate baby nurseries, and you could look through one of those, for color ideas.
What about your hubby? Would he like to help pick the colors :wink:

Congratulations!!!!

Hugs and Kisses always makes a cute blankly.

http://www.quiltpox.com/Patterns/Hugs/

I've made a lot of baby blankets and my favorite ones are the ones I used pinwheels made from half square triangles alternating with plain squares with a little animal applique. I get animal appliques off of EBay - little ducks, kittens, dogs, frogs, rabbits. I buttonhole stitch around the appliques after I iron them on - these could be for a boy or girl depending on the binding color. I will take a picture of the latest one I made and send it here. I use flannel for the back of the quilt to coordinate with the binding.

I'm attaching a picture of the baby blanket I make using pinwheels and iron on appliques

I just did a D9P for a baby. There are so many possibilities with this pattern. No limit to what you can do as far as colors and how you put the pieces together.

Hi there, and welcome :)

I'm expecting my first baby in April, too, lol! I've made plenty of baby blankets for other people, but I just can't think of anything I want to make for my own, lol! I know exactly how you feel!

Anyway, I don't have any advice, but I hope you get some good ideas from the other people here.

First off let me say Welcome and Congratulations on the new baby!!!! :D :D :D
You could go to quilter's cache and just browse through all of the blocks until one yells out "pick me"
Most young people pick a theme for their little ones...my daughters all did, so you may look at fabric within the theme and get an inspiration there too.
You could try googling baby quilts, and take a look there at what others have done, you have seen many on the board, you can do a search here on baby quilts also to refresh your memory.

First off, welcome to the board and Congrats!

Just look around at patterns and what ever catches your fancy, make it.

A big welcome to you and your 'construction project' from Ireland. I can't add anything else to everyone's suggestions, but I am sure you will find 'the' pattern soon.

Well frist off Welcome and Congratulations on the new baby!!just look around and i'm sure you will find one that grabs you.

Flowerjudy: that is one pretty baby quilt i love the look it looks so neat

Hello and welcome from an Iowa girl to both sylslight and flowerjudy :lol: :lol: :lol:

Congratulations on the new baby. How about finding a generic feature fabric--Like a nursery rhyme Hey diddle diddle?

Love the baby quilt flowerjudy :lol:

if you applique by hand or machine, look at

http://www.fatcatpatterns.com

there's sure to be something to love.

Congrats and welcome to the site. There are so many wonderful patterns to use. I would make more than one!

Welcome and Congratulations!! I'm a person who has a hard time deciding on things so I know how you feel. My suggestion is to just choose a simple pattern, cute novelty baby fabric and a contrasting one, then make one. You'll be making more as the baby grows. Lots of luck.

Hi and Welcome from Northern Indiana !

CONGRATS on the baby :lol: Who says you have to limit yourself to just one ? LOL You have time make several ! The most important thing is to relax and enjoy yourself .
Sharon

Welcome from the California desert. Congratulations :D :D

How about something simple like this?

Congratulations! It probably was about this time of year that we learned of our expected baby to be born in April....39 years ago. My husband was an Air Force officer and we were stationed in ND, very far from family. I wanted a way to get family members involved, so thought of making an alphabet blankie for our anticipated little one. Bought pink and pale blue gingham fabric & cut into (I think) 6" squares....one for each letter of the alphabet, plus a couple extra to complete the finished rectangle. Then sent a square with assigned letter of the alphabet to each female family member, and some friends, too, asking each to embroider the letter any way they wanted to. As much as possible I asked them to do the letter that was one of their initials. It was really fun to get them all back and put them together. There were some very experienced needleworkers and some who didn't know one end of a needle from another, but all together it was a darling blankie. As I recall the only quilting I did on it was knotting where the squares joined together. On the extra squares I embroidered some numbers, I think. This little project ended up being the "show" blankie....not the one that suffered baby burps. Whatever you do, it will be wonderful and you'll have fun getting ready for your little angel! Congratulations, again!

Primary colors are loved by infants and small children. You should make it large enough that he/she will be able to drag it around and cover up with it when they are 6.

Linda

Check out Nanabird's baby quilt. Scrappy goes with any sex.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/posts/list/25740.page

Congratulations on your little "package". As an old maternity nurse I still remember the goose bumps at the sight of every birth. It's a wonderful thing to be able to assist a couple at this very intimate and momentous event. But I wax sentimental...
I once attended a developmental class and they told us that newborns vision is clear very close...like the distance between baby and mom faces when breastfeeding. Not so clear beyond that. And they attend to high contrast. In newborn intesive care units you will often see the nurses put black and white patterned visual stimuli in the isolettes. They said red/white/black is a great combo for baby to look at. Actually, pastel quilts are probably more parent-approved than baby-approved. I have made several red/white/black baby quilts and they have been well-received. I think black and white with any one strong bright color (lime green, royal blue, lemon yellow) would be visually stimulating for baby.
Good luck!
Penny

Congratulation on the new baby -to be. A rag quilt makes a great utility quilt, then make a wall hanging or else a "look at quilt"" for the nursery..Sure what you decide will be great. mary

Congratulations! I've made lots of baby quilts also, but never got to make them for my own kids. So I made a twin size for my 5 year old and am finishing the top today for my 3 year old (also twin size).

Sometimes I find it helpful to choose my fabrics first and let them speak to me of the pattern they are to become.

However it works for you, good luck! And get lots of sleep now!! :wink:

Thanks dixie c, for that great explanation. One side of my next baby quilt will be the high contrast black and white with a bright third color, probably the red.

Congratulations on a "new" baby coming and also for joining the Board. I, too, lurked in the shadows for years and finally "bit the bullet" and joined and it has been nothing but "great." The gals have such good suggestions and "helps." Funny, I just purchased fabric for our Pastor's first grandbaby (boy). The mother seems to be preparing the nursery in "jungle" stuff; you know, giraffes, elephants, lions, monkeys, etc. JoAnn's just happened to have a bolt with the animals and I plan to fussie cut 6-1/2" blocks and use the "Warm Wishes" pattern which looks amazingly easy. I found just the right colors to correspond to the animals and will post a picture when I get some blocks done to let you see how it looks. The pattern consists of plain blocks and then rail fence blocks and that is it. Several ladies have posted baby blankets with the Warm Wishes pattern. The best to you.

Welcome!!!! There is a baby blanket called hugs and kisses, a different one than that was previously suggested by the same name, on this website. There is a little bit of applique on it but not to much, very easy applique if your not experienced with it. I made one just cuz it was cute.

http://www.windhamfabrics.com/projects/index.shtml

Will be looking forward to seeing pictures!
Penny

Yes, we definitely need pictures...and you'll need more than one quilt for that small person....so you can run amok and do several different designs!I too love nanabird's quilts, but the others here are beautiful too. I think time will fly with all these projects to do. Good health and happy quilting.

Congratulations on your new little blessing under construction. Dixiechunk is right. As a nurse who works with expectant moms and their babes at in home visits until age 2, I too teach my moms that babies see clearly from birth approximately at 8-12 inches...and love high contrast black and white geometric shapes and faces. They also are drawn to bright primary colors (and we as parents subject them to pastels. lol). What about an I spy quilt with a selection of childrens novelty prints. Dogs, cats, cherrys, butterflys, etc. These become a wonderful place for the little one to do tummy time which is important to the development of their neck and back muscles (now that it is "back to sleep"). Then as they get older and start to develop language, you can use it as a game, pointing to and naming the different animals, etc. The novelty fabrics are fussy cut and then put into a block such as a snowball block. One of my clients was given a quilt such as this by a college craft group when her little one came, he is only 3 months old, but mommy has used it for his tummy time since he was 2 weeks old and she says he just loves the bright colors and trying to imitate the sounds she makes when talking about the blocks.

Sorry so wordy...I will get off my soapbox lol. I am just so passionate about maternal and infant subjects.

Welcome to the board! Congratulations--what an exciting time!
I see so many baby quilts in pastels, and they are pretty, but the truth is that babies love bright colors! I don't think you can go wrong using primary colors, and the lend themselves to either boys or girls. There are lots of great, easy patterns out there!

Congratulations and welcome to the board.

You could just browse online or get books at your library to browse until something speaks to you.

Welcome and congrats on you "construction project"...I would say..why limit yourself? Make lots....you know you will make some that hopefully will be loved to pieces, then you can make that "special" one as a heirloom...then just make several more!!

Welcome and congratulations from No. California!
I just finished a baby quilt for my sisters grand daughter in the Warm Wishes pattern in pinks and browns. It's such an easy pattern that I think I'll make a larger one for my guest room in florals.
I made a Hearts quilt in all shades of pink and green and rose. It was easy also, but a little more time consuming.
Everyone here has wonderful suggestions and I'm sure you will pick a lovely pattern for your baby.... or maybe 2 or 3... baby quilts usually come together pretty fast.
Be sure to post pictures!!

Beautiful quilts, "gramadona." I will post a picture of my "Warm Wishes" that I just started yesterday. I am presently joining the blocks. It is a super easy pattern (my first try), and my thoughts are the same as yours--I want to do a large quilt in florals and prints. Your heart quilt is also beautiful. I have that same pattern and did a quilt with country colors. It is done except for the borders (but has been done for several years :D ). I am bad about jumping on new quilts (an excuse to look for more fabric 8) . Thanks for sharing the pics.

CONGRATS ON THE NEW BABIES TO BOTH OF YOU GIRLS!!!
I had never heard of a D9 patch quilt until I read about one on the message board. I have twin GD 9 mo. old and am making them their own D9 patch quilts. I cut the squares 6 1/2 inches and put them together. I played around with the cut D9's and came up with the main body of the quilts. After machine sewing them together, I hand appliqued on a squirrel, ladybug, dragonfly, butterfly, bee, and a bird on the big squares. I plan to use circles of several colors for a caterpiller, and 2 overlaping hearts on each quilt. The hearts are to represent the fact that they are twins. Both quilts are made of the same fabrics, but are arranged differently. Don't know what I want to use for the borders, but will make the quilts about the same size as big brother(5) and big sister(3)'s quilts. I got most of the patterns and ideas for the applique off the net. I like to make 'Kid;s quilts" rather than "baby quilts' so they will hold the kids' interest longer. Does this help any?