Baby Quilts for Christmas

Friday, January 9, 2009

This Christmas, I gave quilts to my two nieces. They were my 2nd and 3rd quilts ever! I machine-sewed them from my own design, with a lot of inspiration from the web and all those wonderfully creative quilters out there. I learned some valuable lessons while making these quilts.
-First: It is not a good idea to use clearance bin Fat Quarters unless you know how much of that material you will need. I ran out of some material and then couldn't buy any more of it.
-Second: Applique should be done with a stabilizer. I didn't know what a stabilizer was, let alone that I needed to be using it until my applique wrinkled up and then I saw it mentioned on Sew Mama Sew.
-Third: Binding isn't that hard to make, it just takes a little practice and the right instructions.

This was my first time to add my own label. I like it how it turned out, but I may keep experimenting with it.

I found this awesome fabric(sorry, I don't know who it is by)! It is Mother Goose, and it is perfect for a little girl quilt!


This ladybug turned out really cute! The pattern came from How Stuff Works "Fly Away Ladybug Block".



I love this dragonfly! The pattern came from How Stuff Works "Gossamer Wings Quilt Block".

Big applique letters sounded like a great idea when I started, but they proved to be a big challenge! I found out that I need to work on my skills in machine-sewing curves.





















The finished quilts!






















Now, maybe I'll try that 4th quilt. It will be my first queen-sized quilt! So if anyone has any tips, please share them!

My Hand-Made Christmas

This Christmas, I didn't go all hand-made, but I did try to make some of my gifts. Maybe next year will be an all hand-made Christmas!


I made some ornaments for my sister-in-law. She got a reindeer, snowman, gingerbread man, and an "H". They are like the ones I made last year, except for the letter "H" which was a new design I tried this year.


I also made a baby quilt for each of my neices. I am new to quilting, so they are my 2nd and 3rd quilts to make. I tried to work on some new skills with these quilts, so they each have some appliques.

I also made my own binding for the first time, which turned out pretty nice. I had a lot of help from these tutorials: You Go Girl!'s "No-Snit Binding", Heather Bailey's "Continuous Binding", and Quilts and Creativity's "How Much Binding Do I need?".


My two year-old neice loved her quilt! She immediately laid down on the floor and pretended to be asleep!