This is some sort of record for me.
I have a great-nephew who is getting close to 2 years old, and I’ve been promising a quilt since he was born. I had a few hours with no other commitments, so I thought I would get a start on his quilt. In less than a day, I had it completed!
Okay, I didn’t really start from scratch. I won these blocks more than a year ago in a VMQG block lotto. The X Marks the Improv Tutorial was written by Debbie of A Quilter’s Table.
I sewed several blocks into 3 rows, sewed the 3 rows of blocks together, and the top was done! A quick trip to the local fabric store yielded a cute polka dot fleece in matching colors for the back. I wanted to wrap the fleece around to the front for the binding, so I did some internet research and found 2 helpful tutorials.
As suggested by Allison of Cluck Cluck Sew, in Binding a quilt with the quilt back, I trimmed the batting to the same size as the quilt top – actually about 1/4″ wider. I cut the fleece backing larger, so there was about 3 inches extra on each side.
I quilted an off-center X across the whole quilt. Then in each quadrant, I quilted straight, non-parallel lines about 2-3 inches apart.
I trimmed the backing edges to about 2″ and folded it over to the front as binding. I used the mitering technique described in faux blanket binding by red flannel pantry. I straight-stitched about 1/4″ in from the raw edge of the binding, then zigzag stitched over the raw edge.
It was finished in time to take it to the December meeting of VMQG, where some of the members remembered their blocks from the block lotto. Check out the comments!
Today, I put it through the washer and dryer, and then mailed it off. Here’s a shot of the full quilt.
And here’s a peek at the back.
Thanks for stopping by. Today, I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.
You really did a twofer – you put the blocks to good use and you got a (self-imposed) obligation done. Love the comment that it still qualifies as a baby gift as long as the recipient hasn’t yet learned to drive.
Beautiful!!!
Good Morning Terry!
OMG – I love, love, LOVE this baby quilt. I want to make it, too. For my great-nephew who is 13 weeks old. I really think this is great, and how nice is that to get these out of your stash/UFO area?! ~smile~ Roseanne
How fun! And great quilting too! Thanks for sharing
Very pretty! What size was it? I’m just finishing a quilt for a baby that turned one last month. I’ve made several other quilts doing the binding this method; minky makes a nice binding made that way.
Thanks. It’s about 33 x 37 inches. I meant to measure it before I mailed it, but forgot.
This is an adorable baby quilt. X’s and O’s how perfect!
Thanks, Jaynie. I had thought of the X’s and O’s aspect – and then obviously, I forgot to mention it in my post. Thanks for saying that!
Adorable — and what a neat binding technique, especially for a baby quilt. Much faster and easier than the satin binding that I usually wrestle with on my Minky backed baby quilts. I’m bookmarking this post for future reference!
Super cute! What a fun way to use your blocks! Nice to have the simplicity of the faux binding as well, especially since it’s so soft & cuddly!
I love that. What a great idea to use blocks you already had so you could get it done in a hurry!
That is a great baby quilt. I like how the inserted bits aren’t all solid strips. The polka dots really make it!