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