We’ve had quite a few rainy days lately, so I’ve had a good excuse to start working on a new quilt.
 
Sometimes I’ll start out on a quilt without a real plan or design in mind - which can lead to a lot of frustration and tears. They do say, failure to plan is planning to fail, or something along those lines. Fortunately for me, that wasn't the case with this quilt. While I was playing around with some fabrics and trying to think of a design that would work for a baby quilt, I remembered a design I had designed years ago. I figured I would try it out. Nothing complicated - exactly what I had in mind.
 
This is the original hand-drawn design:

The fabrics I chose were mostly low volume neutral colors with pops of green, red and brown here and there. I used 100% cotton fabrics, some from my stash, and others from an online store as well as my local fabric store.

I made nine patch squares which I alternated with large 9x9 inch (23x23 cm) squares. I arranged the fabrics in such a way that it formed plus signs. Keep in mind, this is a baby quilt, so I wanted it simple and sweet, but also a bit whimsical with a touch of romance.

For the backing I chose a creamy floral fabric. I added a pieced strip down the middle, for which I used some of the same fabrics as for the top.

I used 100% lightweight cotton batting. After I layered the quilt, I quilted a crosshatch quilt design all over.

For the binding I chose one of the fabrics I used for the top - small brown plus signs on a very light taupe background. At first I didn’t realize how that complimented the larger plus designs in the quilt, but while I was attaching the binding to the quilt it struck me how perfect it was!

I think it turned out dreamy!
 
Dimensions: 35x52 inches (89x132 cm) - crib size

As a quilter my eyes are frequently drawn to designs around me for use in my quilts. Perhaps, in a way similar to a photographer who’s always on the lookout for a photo opportunity. This month I found a quilting design on toilet paper of all things! Some companies even go so far as to call it quilted TP with all the different designs on it. Well, the ones we buy have pretty flowers “quilted” on it, so I thought I would try and mimic this flower design on a quilt. 

I decided to make a whole cloth quilt to showcase the flower motif. You might be new to the quilting world and wonder what I am talking about. A whole cloth quilt is simply what the name says: a quilt made out of a whole piece of fabric instead of pieced fabrics. It still consists of the quilt sandwich - top, batting and backing. And in this case it’s reversible.
 
While this is certainly different from a regular patchwork quilt, it is still beautiful with the focus, in my opinion, on the quilting design, whether you choose to hand or machine quilt.
 
Since this was the first time I attempted a whole cloth quilt, I decided to keep it small and make a baby size quilt. With spring in mind, as well as the flowery TP, I went to my local fabric store and bought a white muslin for the one side and a white polka-dot on peach cotton fabric for the flip side. For the binding I chose a pretty peach fabric with small white and black flowers. I figured the quilt design would be more visible on light colored fabrics.

I started drawing out the flower design in one corner of the white fabric with a water soluble fabric marker and continued doing that all over the white. Then I layered the quilt the same way I would have done with a patchwork quilt. After that I started quilting in white thread.

While making this quilt, I learned a few valuable lessons:
 

1. Planning is key! Decide on the size quilt you want to make and buy enough fabric accordingly. Since it is called a whole cloth quilt you might need to buy extra wide fabric.
2. Plan and measure out the quilting design as well as the spacing in between the designs. I just started drawing the design on one side and didn’t space it out over the whole piece of fabric.  Rookie mistake!
3. I should have quilted the flowers closer to each other or perhaps added another design in between the flowers. I ended up with some “loose” fabric in between flowers. Another rookie mistake.
   
4. The flower design was very time intensive to quilt. It would have been faster to use free motion quilting, but I chose to quilt with a walking foot.
   

I don’t like wasting fabric. In fact I keep even the smallest piece of fabric. It goes into either one of two bins. One for larger size pieces for future quilt projects or one for pieces too small for quilting which one can use for instance as stuffing for a dog bed.
 
Anyway, as I was going through the former bin, I discovered fabrics from a collection called Chinoise by Studio K for Clothworks. I bought this a few years ago for a different quilt. Beautiful floral patterns with birds and Chinese lanterns in soft pinks, blues, yellows, greens, white and brown.
 
This is the quilt I made a few years ago.

I wasn’t planning on making the Pinwheel Baby Quilt this month, but when I found these pieces I started playing around. Soon I had quite a few small triangles cut out which led to making half square triangles (HST’s). (HST units are squares made up of two 90 degree triangles sewn together on the bias to form a square.)

I decided to pair the Chinoise triangles with light colored (mostly white) fabrics from the scrap bin.
 
In order to make a pinwheel block, you have to arrange four of these HST’s into a four patch so the light colored fabrics always sit next to the darker fabric. This arrangement gives the block a feeling of motion.

According to the National Parks Service’s Quilt Discovery Experience, the Pinwheel block goes back to the early 1800’s. It is no surprise that the pinwheel block represents the blades of water pumping windmills from back then.
 
Each Pinwheel block in this quilt’s finished size equals a small 2.5 inch (6cm) square. This can be the downside to using small scraps. It is not a quick process and it can become a little tedious at times sewing such small blocks. The upside to this is that once you finished the quilt, you know you’ve made good use of your little scraps and it did not end up in the trash.
 
For this quilt I made 36 pinwheels. I divided them into four groups of 12 pinwheels according to colors and fabric design. I alternated these with white blocks to form four rows. In between the pinwheel rows, I used Robert Kaufman’s Kona cotton solid Pfd Bleach white.

I did not have enough fabric left for the back. Big was my surprise when I found some of this fabric online. It is called White Floral, as can be seen in the picture.

I quilted the whole quilt in vertical lines, 1.25 inches (3cm) apart.

Fortunately I did have enough fabric scraps left for the scrappy binding.

One mistake I made was starting this project without a pattern or plan. Usually I plan a quilt by sketching it out or drawing it using computer design software. With this quilt it has not been the case and that led to a lot of frustration. Fortunately, everything worked out in the end. The result:  a cute little baby quilt and my scrap bin a bit emptier than before.

Dimensions: approximately 29 inches x 39 inches (74cm x 99cm) - Baby size quilt

The thought of hunting for quilting fabric always excites me. Even more so when said hunt is for a baby’s or toddler’s quilt. I mean, what’s not to love about nursery and children’s fabrics with cute patterns and designs, a variety of colors and the thought of blessing a new baby or toddler with a handmade quilt!
 
One advantage of making a baby quilt is the size of it. It is small enough that you don’t need to get discouraged by the size of the project and you can finish it in a few days’ time. Since my babies have somewhere along the way turned into two big boys, I don’t need to make baby quilts anymore, but I still like to make one every once in a while.
 
For the Bow Ties quilt, I chose the standard “boy colors” of blue and green and combined it with white to give it a modern look.

For the background of the top of the quilt I used Robert Kaufman’s Kona cotton solid PFD Bleach White. I used Later Alligator by Sandy Gervais for Moda in the colors Sprout and Navy for the bow ties.

I arranged the blocks on point - which means the blocks were positioned in diagonal rows instead of vertical and horizontal rows. Depending on your arrangement of the blocks, the bow ties could look like little hourglasses or even butterflies!

For the backing of the quilt I used Later Alligator in the color Cloud, a cheerful fabric with little triangles in sprout, navy, sky blue, yellow and red on a white background. It tied in nicely with the bow ties (triangles) on the top of the quilt.

I had a hard time deciding on a quilt design for the quilt. I wanted the design to compliment the quilt pattern. In the end I chose a diamond design which really made the bow ties pop.

For the binding I used Later Alligator in the color Cloud - wavy sky blue, navy and sprout lines on a white background.

The Bow Ties quilt has been a fun and quick quilt to make. I can already see one for a little girl in my mind - one with little pink butterflies fluttering all over the quilt.
 
Dimensions: 36” x 50” (91.5cm x 127cm) (Crib size)

When our boys were little I became interested in quilt making, specifically baby quilts. Baby quilts are always popular and a nice size project especially for beginners. I designed this quilt years ago, but it wasn’t until recently that I actually made it. And I must say, I am so happy with the end result.

For the top of the quilt I used Robert Kaufman’s Kona cotton Steel and Kona Rose. I started by piecing the middle, the short grey strip and the two pink squares. After that I alternated between the long and short strips until the top was finished.

For the backing I used Best friends forever by Stacy Iest Hsu for Moda, a pretty pink with tic tac toes all over. Once I’ve layered the quilt, I quilted it in an “X” design.

For the binding I used a gray and white polka dot fabric I found at Joann’s which gives it a playful look.

This has been such a fun project that I’m already thinking of making another one!