Baby Blocks Quilt

The width of the four 6" blocks at 24" was too small for the 30" minimum my guild requires for a baby quilt. When I added borders, I wanted to be sure not to exceed the size of my backing fabric, both in width and length.

• Had to add border - 3" each side
• inner line -yellow ½" wide fussy cut at 1"
• main border cut at 2½" wood grain horizontal, finish at 2"
• binding - yellow ½" wide cut at  2½ " wide
• Backing birds
• top 4 x 6" = 24" wide; add two 3" borders = 30"; WOF = 42"   ✓
• top 6 x 6" = 36" high; add two 3" borders = 42"; have 1¼ yd  = 45"  ✓

Previous post (dated 1/4/25) describes the arrangement of the blocks. That post did not contain the teal woodgrain fabric I used for the border. I reserved using the bird fabric as backing, instead of as a border, since its scale lent itself better to that.

Next up is the quilting. My first proposal was a simple diagonal grid (left image). I did not like crossing those center squares, though. I tried diagonal lines that skirted those central squares. This quilting was more dense than I wanted (center image). Then I considered, with all this squareness, some curves might be welcome. I tried the illusion of circles, sewn as a sequence of curves; I chose this rounded option (right image).

I stitched the curves one arc at a time (one fourth of a circle) using my HQ Half Circle Templates I used the outer edge of the 8" half-circle with a ½" echo foot, forcing the arcs to hit at the corners of the 6" squares. Completing one row at a time, per the following diagram, I stitched over to the right on the 1, 2, 3' s and back to the left with the 4's. 

The result looks deceptively like circles.

The borders have more curved squares, made freehand with arcs. I can do small curves freehand, but my skills are not smooth enough to do the larger curves without a template. Highlighter tape that I pencil-marked at intervals helped me line up the points directly across from the squares in the blocks. Highlighter tape  peels off with no sticky residue. I use one strip over and over again, lifting and moving it periodically as I stitch along, so I only have to mark those few vertical slashes once.

I used the same yellow fabric from the narrow insert for the binding. Here is a closeup of the quilt corner with the binding attached; also shown is the FMQ on the border as seen from the back.

 

  

Next are full photos of the front and the back. The finished size is 29½" x 41½". This was a fun, relatively quick project that I am pleased to say was made completely from my stash!

Fresh From Writing Goals

I had just completed writing my goals suggestions for 2025 (1/1/25 post) and decided to follow one tip about small projects. This small project checks many goal objectives. It is quick, just for fun, reduces my stash, and give me satisfaction due to a (hopefully) speedy completion. I can share it at my monthly small quilt group meeting so it checks the social box, too. Overall, this block write-up is quite a win-win for 2025. But I better not count my chickens before my eggs are hatched, so here is the project description.

I had a packet of fourteen 2.5" strips all in the same teal colored fabric line from American Jane fabrics that I'd bought a few years ago (pre-COVID, so maybe more than a few years). My best guess for the main color is teal per this following chart.

I used 12 strips, 6 strip pairs. I actually had 14 strips but I set aside two and I have already stashed them away in some forgotten niche of my sewing room. Each of the 6 strip pairs yielded 4 blocks each for a total of 24 blocks; two blocks are the same and the other two are complements of the first two. Each block pair took 2 pieces 6.5" long x 2.5" wide and 3 pieces 2.5" square. Four blocks came from two strip pairs with very little waste consuming 41" [2 x (13" + 7.5"]. I could toss those end selvage scraps very easily with no guilt.

Stitching up the blocks up was quick and easy. Arranging and rearranging them on my design wall took me at least an equal amount of time if not even a bit more. After several random attempts I settled on an organized symmetric arrangement. Although the two bold prints I placed in the four corners were my favorites, placing them central was very distracting and the eye could not wander. My stare was fixated dead center. The bold prints did better in the corners. This arrangement of 4 x 6 blocks measures 24" x 36". The block orientation alternated by 90° to minimize bulk at the seams.

The minimum size for a donation baby quilt for my guild is 30" by 36" so I need to come up with two 3" side borders. I am considering a bird print or a yellow links print I have in my stash. The bird background color is not an exact match but I think it could work, especially as a backing. Now is decision time, which equates to stall time in my book. (Maybe that definition of "quick" may morph a bit.) Here are the fabric choices I am considering for borders, backing, and binding. I have 1¼ yards of the bird print and ½ yard of the yellow links. I think I can make it work.

2025 Quilting Goals

Quilting is my hobby but every year I struggle with writing goals, expending time I could be quilting.  Not this year. I am repeating goals from last year, but viewing them as 2025 quilting suggestions instead of goals.

In 2025 I plan to:

• 1) Work from my stash - kit and scrap management
• kits - make or give away at least one kit
• kits - restrict purchases to no more than the number I make or give away
• scraps - develop a system to consolidate and control
• 2) Interface with other quilters - social 
• continue to blog and publish my blog books
• attend guild meetings and quilt shows
• get together with quilting friends
• 3) Intersperse small projects among big ones - fun, growth, satisfaction
• perhaps take a class, in person or online (fun)
• use opportunity to try new tools or skills on reduced scale (growth)
• reduce size of stash and amount of scraps (satisfaction)

In browsing quilting tips online, I found this rule of three to be a reasonable, non-specific suggestion. (per Siobhan Fitzpatrick, designer of Radiate)

Pick three projects that will help guide your work throughout the year. One should be a WIP (Work In Progress)—something you didn’t get a chance to finish this year but want to get done. Another should be a project you have the supplies for but never started (maybe that Halloween quilt that just went by the wayside). The final one should be a project that uses a new technique you really want to try (and this can be a small project—since it is a learning project). This way, you set yourself up to finish a project, make something you already know you want to make, and learn a new technique/skill. This will help set a positive, balanced tone for the year.