Hello! My Mom and I are planning on making a baby quilt for a lovely coworker, who just found out that she's having a little girl. This is her first child and she's quite nervous, but also very excited.

I showed her a bunch of beginner-friendly patterns, as I've only completed one quilt so far and am very new to sewing in general. She liked one of the Squares-within-Squares patterns from Quilter's Cache. I spent the past few minutes deciding on amounts of fabric needed, what sort of design I wanted to do, etc. and came up with an excel diagram of what I'm considering.

Please note that COLORS ARE NOT ACCURATE. I just used the colors I did for the sake of contrast and preserving my sanity as I played with design.

Pattern: http://www.quilterscache.com/S/Squar...res2Block.html

My Design:
[img]http://jennalyn.net/images/quilt/ChristinaRough.PNG[/img]

According to my guestimates, the finished quilt should come out to 52" by 40" (if I cut and piece correctly). Am I right on this? In the excel diagram, each square represents 1".

I'm debating whether to use cotton or flannel. I have snuggle flannel in my stash, but I'm kind of tempted to go out and buy new fabrics (whee, shopping!) as I don't think I have quite the color scheme she's looking for. At least, not to my satisfaction.

She's thinking she'll go with soft pinks, yellows, and browns. Should be pretty.

Does anyone have any fabric suggestions - if not specific fabrics, then just a general feel or shade-scheme that might look good with this? I don't have any ideas as of yet beyond going with her colors.

What should I be looking for in terms of size of prints for each of the fabrics?

I'm very new to this and appreciate having this board to garner your input! Thanks to anyone who read this far. :thumbup:

I would probably go with a print for your squares then a coordinating solid or blender for the other pieces. Do a search on here- there are some nice color combinations others have done. I always back my baby quilts (& most others too!) with flannel. It does shrink so pre wash it! Maybe twice!

I hadn't even thought of using one type of material for the top and another for backing! That sounds like a great idea for both using what I have at home and having an excuse to visit my LQS.

I think I prefer blenders to solids, so I'll have to rummage around and see what's available... ^_^

I agree that the center squares should be some sort of focus fabric, print or whatever to make it pop. Blenders or a very small print (dots or tone on tone) would be a very nice accent. Love the block, whatever you do, it will be very nice!

Okay, so now here's another question... I've come up with an alternate layout for the different FQ's that will be involved. Which do you guys like better? The one is more random placement (though there is still a pattern to it). The other places them in alternating rows.

I personally like the more scrappy look.
What a special thing you are doing for your co-worker!