Baby Quilt #2 !!!

Hello, Everyone!

Wow, I finished the second baby quilt! I just can’t believe how happy I feel when I make something for a baby! I think I will keep a baby quilt in my active project pile, to work on when I need a mental lift. I’ve even decided to make the next one in this same quilt pattern, but for a boy. I can’t wait to pick out fabric.

This second quilt is for a very special baby. My coworker and his wife are very blessed to be celebrating the birth of their first child. About 6 months ago us ladies in the office decided this baby needed a quilt so I went to work.

When I started this quilt we did not know the baby’s gender. I found a couple cute jelly rolls with elephants, giraffes and fun, bright patterns. The pattern for this quilt is from the book, “The Big Book of Strip Quilts” by Martingale and Company. For a link to the book Click Here. If you like doing strip quilts this is a good book to have. There are several quilts in here that I really like and some patterns also useful for using scraps. The general size range of the quilts are baby to queen and a lot of them 50” to 60” range. That’s a nice, slightly smaller size to manage for beginners to develop skills and very manageable if using a domestic machine for quilting.

This pattern is Twisted Bars on page 146. It starts with jellyroll strips sewn together, then cut into blocks. Squares of yellow were sewn at opposite corners. The block is 12-1/2”unfinished. The blocks were turned and sewn together creating the yellow diamonds. I framed the blocks with the yellow border. Three blocks by four blocks; the size was about 36” x 48”. At this point it was my intention to wait to see if we were going to find out the sex of the baby. We waited a bit and then found out- a GIRL! Here comes the pink! I found the cute outer border in stars with pink and the other matching colors. The back fabric was perfect- bright pink with the African animals. The binding is the matching pink tonal. The finished size is 45” x 60”.

I quilted it with a wavy stitch on my domestic machine, 2-1/2” apart. I used a turquoise thread on the top (I took the thread to work and had the other ladies choose the color) and the bottom thread is pink. There is one layer of cotton batting inside.

As I made the quilt I had leftovers; half square triangles and pieces of strip sets. From these I fashioned a diaper changing station pad. The pad measures 40” x 18”. When I was at the quilt shop getting the fabrics to finish this project they showed me a waterproof layer to add inside. I put it in between the top and the quilt batting layers. If the top gets wet the pad can still be rolled up and the moisture won’t go through to the outside. How cool. I tacked a ribbon at the end as I finished the binding, so the pad can be rolled and tied, kept in the diaper bag. I enjoyed making this, and will make more for gifts.

Our new Mom and Dad loves the gift. Dad was amazed at the wavy quilted stitching.

I also found out, the first baby quilt set I made (see Baby Quilt post May 13), that baby was born the same day as this second baby! That baby is a boy. How fun!

So now I’m moving on to other projects, but as I mentioned, I will keep a baby quilt in my active pile. I really loved making these baby items and I hope I’ve inspired you to make baby items, for a gift on hand, or to donate. During these projects I decided my baby quilts will be donated to The Linus Project chapter here in Reno. I also decided to go one step further, I will also make donation quilts for the Eddy House (also here in Reno); a group that is involved with homeless teenagers.

Thanks, Everyone, for being here. Until next time- find some time to sew!