A Quilt for Baby LeSchea

One of my coworkers is thisclose to giving birth and she happens to be one of the nicest people in the world. So needless to say, I had to make a baby quilt for her.

Some time ago, I bought a Quick Cuts Skill-Builder Leaflet from Walmart (barf, I know) that had two different baby quilt projects on it. I've searched and searched online, but can't find it anywhere. There were two projects in the leaflet- a basic quilt they called the "Bubblegum Quilt" and another one simple titled "Baby Quilt."

I've done the Baby Quilt twice before- once for another coworker's baby, and another for myself that I enlarged into a lap quilt. I love this quilt because it's super easy (can be completed in 1-2 days!) and is still different because it has a scalloped edge without using bindings.

(I had forgotten to take pictures before I gifted it. Fortunately, a friend took some photos after it was opened, hence the wrinkles.)

I was originally going to use only the pink and orange but after looking at the fabric for a day, I decided to use all colors and throw in the green, blue, and yellow. I'm quite pleased that I did.

I knew my friend was going for a Hello Kitty theme in her nursery. I found this super cute fabric at Jo Ann's and had to use it.

After stitching the quilt top, you layer everything in the following order- batting, backing right side up, quilt top right side down. I stitched 1/4" all the way around the edges. Now the interesting part- you have to pick apart some stitches between two of the blocks and use that as the opening to turn the blanket right side out. After pressing super, super well, I hand stitched the opening closed. I would recommend backstitching a bit where you plan on creating the opening as the stitches will pull apart if you're not careful.

Finally, I topstitched around the edge of the quilt about 1/4" in using black thread to contrast but also match the little kitties. On the polka dot blocks, I outlined them in white thread, also 1/4" in.

I know she's a summer baby, but I hope it keeps her warm this fall and winter!