Baby Quilt...in progress

Pin It A very good friend is expecting her first baby and I wanted to make a quilt. I've done simple pieced quilts before and while they aren't too bad, the strip quilting method makes things much faster. I decided that I wanted a more random/crazy pattern for this quilt.

First, picking the fabric is the hardest part! I went with 6 different coordinating fabrics (about 1/4 yard of each), plus 1.5 yards for the back (I'm making a 45" x 45" square).

Next, I used my rotary cutter (if you don't have one, get one! you won't be sorry) to cut the fabric into strips. I varied the width of the strips from 2-5 inches and then lined them up in an order that I liked. I sewed strips together until I had about a 45 x 45 square.

I forgot to take good pictures of the next step, sorry. But, you pull out the rotary cutter again and cut across the strips so that you end up with one long row of the various squares! (Lots better than cutting out each square and then sewing them all back together).

Next, you take all those nice new strips of square and lay it out on the floor. I decided to put the strips upside down on one row and rightside up on the next.

I do have a set of PVC quilt frames, but for baby quilts, I really prefer this small lap frame (I bought it years ago at House of Fabric and recently found another one at a yard sale). I use quilting safety pins to pin through the quilt top, batting and back so everything stays put. Then I move the lap frame when I need to. This makes the project easy to sit on the couch and work on or take on a road trip or put away. I haven't finished yet, but when I get the binding done I'll take another photo.