Welcome to those of you who are here to share a finish with TGIFF or to check out what everyone else has been up to. I'm really excited to be hosting Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday!
I've been trying to finish up some older projects and stash bust some of my older fabrics... many from when I started quilting in 2002. I recently decided to put together this baby quilt. The feature fabric was leftover from a pillow case that I made for my nephew a few years ago. I decided that the cars would make a cute baby quilt and pulled two fat quarters from my stash to go with it.
I did a little measuring of my leftover car fabric and found that I could get twelve 5.5-inch squares out of it (leaving very little waste). I decided I'd make 4-patch blocks with my red and yellow fabrics. For those I cut 3" strips of each fat quarter and strip-pieced them.
Then I cut these into 3" segments, to piece the 4-patch blocks. (Strip-piecing tip: When cutting be sure to square up the edge, and line your ruler line along one of your seams.)
Now, I didn't like my options for border fabric from my stash, so I picked up the lovely green dots at PIQF. I used a striped fabric from my stash for the backing and binding. I love the effect of the striped fabric used as bias binding with the diagonal strips. The whole project went together very quickly.
Make Your Own
This could be done with any size block. Start by determining an optimal size block for your feature fabric. This might be determined by how much fabric you have, what size your pieces are, or the scale of the print. Then to determine the dimensions of your small squares just divide by two, then add 0.25 inch.
For example if you had 4-inch squares that you wanted to use for the feature fabric,dividing 4 by two equals 2 inches, then adding 0.25 is 2.25, so the small squares should be 2.25 inches. You could strip piece by cutting 2.25-inch strips, then crosscut into 2.25-inch wide pieces.
Once you've pieced your 1-patch and 4-patch blocks together, you can add one or more borders to reach your desired quilt size.
If you're new to my site, here are some of my favorite finishes:
Thanks for visiting!
I've linked up to Cynthia's first Oh Scrap! linkup at Quilting is More Fun than Housework... And linking up to Finish Along 2014 Wrap Up Party. Here's my full list of Q4 goals.
BillieBee
Really a sweet quilt.
sarah
Post authorThanks for visiting!
Janine
Your baby quilt is lovely :)
sarah
Post authorThank you for visiting and for linking up.
Serena @ Sewgiving
What a great way to stash bust, that car fabric is really cute ... thanks for hosting :)
sarah
Post authorThanks. I don't have a recipient in mind for it yet, so I'll enjoy seeing it on my shelf. Thanks for linking up.
Lorna McMahon
Such a sweet baby quilt! Love that striped backing and how you used it diagonally for the binding. Good for you using up some older stash and making something beautiful. Thanks so much for hosting, Sarah!
sarah
Post authorI have a secret: I kind of want ALL my bindings to be made from striped fabric now! Thanks for linking up.
Andrea @ MouseInMyPocket.com
This is such a cute quilt, and I love how simple it is. I think this might just be the perfect quilt for some themed fabric I've been hording for my brother's baby. Thanks for the idea.
sarah
Post authorThank you. I'm curious what theme you have planned. Thanks for linking up.
Cynthia Brunz Designs
Very cute little quilt! And so quick and easy - thanks for sharing.
Lisa in Port Hope
Great layout! I have some bee blocks to put together, and I think you've given me a great idea for how to arrange them.
sarah
Post authorThanks! Yay for inspiring ideas! I hope you are able to quickly get your bee blocks put together so you can enjoy your new quilt! Thanks for visiting. :-)
laura
That looks great Sarah! Great post too - thanks so much for hosting Tgiff!: :)
sarah
Post authorThank you, Laura. I had fun. I'd love to host again sometime.
Claire aka knitnkwilt
What a delightful quilt. I love extending great novelty fabrics, and that sure accomplished it. Gotta remember the bias stripe binding--works well here.
Vicki in MN
Thanks for sharing your quick baby quilt-I'll have to remember it when I get into the donation neonatal quilts again.