At the beginning of July I finally felt inspired to make a quilt for a new niece. I made a test block:
While I was wanting a scrappy look, I decided that this was too scrappy and got a bit organised. I had some mini charm packs that I thought I could use to reduce my cutting time. These were Daydream by Kate Spain, Hubba Hubba by Me and My Sister Designs and Simply Style by V and Co.
Each block had a colour theme based around the contents of the charm packs. I didn’t use all the fabrics from the Simply Style pack, I left out the dark blues, purple and mustard prints. I also left out a few prints from the other packs as they were too white and would have not had enough contrast with the white fabrics. All the other prints were from my scrap boxes; no fat quarters or yardage were harmed in the making of this quilt! The solid white was left over from another project and is the Better Value Plain Cotton in white from Seamstar, there are other low volume prints used that again came from my scrap box.
For the blocks with a white cross I cut:
White:
1: 2.5″ sq
4: 2.5″ x 1.5″
Colour:
4: 2.5″ square
4: 2.5 x 1.5″
For the blocks with the coloured cross I swapped the white and colour measurements over. This made a unfinished block of 6.5″. In hindsight you could cut the centre square as a rectangle of 4.5″ x 2.5″ and there would be 2 less seams to sew, but I wasn’t thinking that far ahead. However if you see this post you will see what I mean about the block construction.
Before the end of the month I had a finished quilt top.
So my goal for August was to hand quilt this; I’ve never hand quilted before so it was a step into the unknown! While stitching around the first cross I broke the needle, not really a good start; and I had to wait a week or so before I had the chance to get a new one. But once I had a new needle I got on and stitched.
I had wanted a project that I could take with me if we were going out and about during the school holidays and this was good for that. It was more bulky than an EPP project but I did some sat in the hospital awaiting a child’s blood tests and then spent an afternoon’s stitching at a friends while the children played.
For the backing I used Strawberry Dot flannel from the Marmalade collection by Bonnie and Camille, it’s wonderfully soft and snuggly:
The binding I thought was going to be a tricky choice, I didn’t want pink but didn’t know what else I had in my stash that might work. Then I came across some yardage of Rainy Days and Mondays (by Melimba for Riley Blake designs back in 2010!) in my stash which picked out colours from both the front and back of the quilt:
It’s stripy too which I love in a binding:
I’m really happy with how it turned out:
And it was a good reminder of how satisfying a small quilt can be; quick to make, easy to baste and useful for keeping my niece warm especially as autumn seems to be making an early appearance!
Despite the post title I have no evidence to suggest she is a cross baby…
Quilt Stats:
Pattern: Cross blocks, measurements my own
Fabric: a wide variety from scrap boxes and as above
Binding – Raindrop print from Rainy Days and Mondays by Melimba
Backing – Strawberry Dots in flannel from Marmalade by Bonnie and Camille
Wadding – Super-Soft 70/30 Eco-Blend by Sew Simple
Quilting – hand quilted by me around each block
Size – Approx 36? x 42?
Linking up with:
It’s lovely Mary! I keep wanting to hand quilt something, but I always think of a reason not to! Too impatient …
It’s really pretty, Mary!
Love this Mary! I was thinking about maybe hand quilting next time, yours is lovely and it keeps the quilt so nice and soft too. Your block will be in the post by the end of today and then you’ll have a bigger version to do in a few weeks 😉 xx
That’s lovely! And your hand quilting equally as so! I’ve not had the patience to do anything bigger than a needlebook yet
Thank you for posting the measurements M! Love this wee quilt! Jxo
Beautiful x your hand stitching looks great, although how you manage to break a needle is beyond me! I’m sure that your niece will love it x
Ps, enjoyed playing where are my scraps again :0)
Loving how colourful this is!
PS, I suspect said baby, if not cross, will at least be pissed off quite often, it seems to be a character trait with teeny people 😉
Fabulous!