I need more babies in my life. The snuggles, coos, and adorable smiles melt my heart. Then, I remember that my kids are both functional without me. Basically, functional. They still need the parents for a few things, like car rides.
For a while, babies were happening all the time and I would keep a stash of baby quilts on hand at all times. Now in my 40’s that has slowed down. I miss it.
Baby quilts are still my favorite size to make. They are fast and easy to store. Plus, they make great gifts.
Let’s take a look at my favorite baby quilts from 2023:
Jade and Pink Irish Chain
One of my favorite activities is to dig around in my stash and put together color ideas. I grabbed a pink solid and this jade print from Art Gallery. Before I decided to make a quilt, I did find the backing fabric. A lovely floral the coordinates so well.
The dark pink binding is was an Instagram favorite. It works so well with this color combination.
Porter helped with the photography of this quilt. He was my measurer, but his arms weren’t quite long enough.
The Irish Chain is great for scraps and I adore a two-color option for a baby quilt. Look for more of these in 2024.
All Scrap Improv Gender Neutral Quilt
The Irish Chain can be quickly made. A scrappy improv quilt takes more time. You will need many scraps to balance out the colors if you’re going for a color palette like I did. I recommend pulling more than what you will use.
I paired the prints with gray, white on white, and low-volume scraps to create the blocks. I started the blocks in strips and then cut into strips. The strips were then sewn together. Some were long, some short, it really depended on the fabric pairing.
When piecing them together it’s best to lay out a number at a time. This will allow you to visually see the balance of the colors. Scrappy doesn’t have to mean haphazard, you can be intentional.
Having balance makes the quilt more appealing. I did have to dig back into my scraps and stash to round out the quilt top’s balance. I had too many oranges at first.
The quilting is just straight lines, but creating squares and rectangles along the way. I did one show in 2023 and took my machine with me to work on the quilt.
Here is the finished quilt.
The backing was large scraps I found during my pulls. I love being able to great a fully scrappy quilt.
The quilt is ready for a new home. Anyone having a baby in 2024?
If you are looking for other handmade gifts, head over to my Etsy shop.