Not an original title, I know, but that’s what I’m working on.  Rather, it’s what I want to be working on after I clear the floor in the room so we have no puncture wounds from Legos!

If you can sew a seam, you can quilt.  I have received no formal training/instruction.  If you can see it in your mind, you can do it.  Granted, I’m still learning tricks of the trade for more advanced quilting, but that’s another post.

Homemade baby blankets are great because they are truly a gift from the heart and a labor of love (hopefully!).  Also, they’re naturally smaller.  I like the bigger baby blankets, about a yard square.  Practically, they give you more space for design, last the child longer and make great cover-ups for nursing or dirty floors, depending on which you’d rather cover.  (I’d go for the floor!)

Here are my very general steps:                 

• Plan design, gather materials.  Materials can get expensive, so have your budget in mind.
• Launder fabric and iron (yes, especially if it’s cotton).
• Cut top pieces to appropriate measurements.
• If your top piece has applique or needs piecing, do this.  Here is where I sewed the ribbons onto the ribbon blanket.
• After top piece is done, measure and cut batting and back piece (I tend to lay it all out and just cut around the top piece, but I’m not the most obsessively accurate seamstress!).
• Pin the layers together.  I have used a batting for which you
  

   just iron to bond the layers together.  That one time I used it, it was on a poly-based batting, I believe.  I JUST found a cotton variety.  I’ll have to look harder next time I’m in Hancock’s, I guess!

• Start sewing/quilting the three layers, starting from the center.
• Sew on binding.  This is the tricky part to me, especially the corners.  I haven’t quilted much of late and got rusty, apparently.  Practice, practice, practice.
• Give the lovely product to the new addition to your life.
• BE SURE TO TELL THEM TO USE IT!

If my laywoman’s simple instructions have aggravated you, please don’t lose heart.  Go to a site that has a more detailed step-by-step guide.  Remember, if you can “see” it, you can do it.  This is meant to be fun and to nurture your creativity!
                   

The lucky recipients of these blankets are my new second cousins.  Welcome to the family!

(I’ll post a picture of the floral blanket in the comments when I have it done!)