Thursday's Craft: Baby's Quilt

My great-grandmother, Tincy Gantt, made quilts. A TON of them (and it's no wonder for someone who was born in 1888). I have three of them in my bedroom that I use on a regular basis, two more in storage, and a baby blanket made by a great grandmother I knew for a short 5 years (and some change) of my life. What I love about her quilts is that they are sturdy and have stood the test of time for around 100 years. So just recently I tried my hand at quilting. I didn't do it the old-fashioned way, like my friend Meredith did (see her page here and all the creative things she makes and sells), because I just didn't have the time or the patience, but I still gave it a shot for two little girls on their first birthday (Hey, Naomi and Evelyn! Hope you are enjoying your quilts!)

Here's how I did it:

Materials:

• scraps of fabric cut into equal sized squares (I had 16- 8x8 squares)
• Lay out the squares in the order you want. I wanted to make sure I didn't have one large square with four blues, so I laid them out by color in columns and then picked them up by rows (see picture) 

• With RIGHT SIDES together, sew in this order: 
• 1 (square) x 1 = 2 squares

• 2 x 2 = 4 squares 

• 4 x 4 = 16 squares (the entire quilt) 

Halfway done! 

• (Optional): Cut out Initial of whomever is getting the quilt (or their last name's initial). Sew onto 1 square of solid color

• Sew the "Initial Square" in the center of the quilt

• Measure and cut the size of the back of the quilt. I used fleece and it was 30 x 30 inches. 
• Double fold the top over the bottom (with WRONG SIDES facing each other) and sew a zig zag stitch. You can also follow this with a straight stitch around the entire quilt for reinforcement. 

• That's it! You are done! 

I was actually excited that these were so easy to make. I had two to make, and it took me a LOT less time to make than I originally thought. Now I know to make them, I'm probably going to do a few more for presents in the near future (wink wink). 

Here is the final product for Evelyn and Naomi. They are twins, so I wanted them to be similar, but not too similar as each girl is a very special individual. I hope they don't grow out of them too soon! :)