Sunday, January 17, 2016

Easy Baby Quilt Pattern


I really meant to start on a belated Christmas gift that I'm feeling very guilty about.  Remembering that the directions said to cut charm pack squares to 4" I did just that, feeling pretty good about it.  And then I started on the pattern and saw that the squares were supposed to be 4 1/2".  Sorry, Kay, there has been a delay.

Charm packs, by the way, are 42 5" squares, usually from the same design collection.  Usually there are some duplicates.  I guess I still had Christmas on my mind, and decided to set off the charm pack with red background squares and make a baby quilt.

If you want to try this, cut 5 different background fabrics into 10 4" squares each and put them into piles, 1 - 5.  If you're using a charm pack, cut the squares to 4".  If you're using scraps, cut 42 4" scrap squares. 

 For row 1, use 1 and 2 of the background fabrics, then add 2 design fabrics, then 3 and 4 of the background and 2 more of the design fabrics.

Row 2:  2 design fabrics, 5 and 1 background fabrics, 2 design fabrics, 2 and 3 background
Row 3:  4 and 5 background, 2 design fabrics, 1 and 2 background, 2 design fabrics
Row 4:  2 design fabrics, 3 and 4 background, 2 design fabrics, 5 and 1 background

You'll pick up the pattern by then.  This is for a donation baby quilt, and it ends up 28" x 35".  For a larger quilt, you'll need to adjust.  You'll end up with a few left over squares, so don't worry.

This year I really, really want to improve my free motion, and my goal is to free motion the baby quilts.  I feel confident enough for that, and I know that the more I do the better it will look.  I'll miss the walking foot quilting that I have been using, but I can do that on other things.

1 comment:

Joanne S said...

This would be a good way to use up small yardage. And I would make them into placemat size.
Everyone could use a few new (to them) placemats. I think they could even make a nice addition to Meals On Wheels at holiday time. What a great idea.

My daughter always asked me to make holiday placements for the Christmas Food Box her work group filled up for a needy family. And my quilt group always made a pair of potholders for each Thanksgiving box the local Elks club made up.