The Year of the Quilt 2 :: A Baby Quilt

My number one tip for buying fabric to match a piece you already have....take the fabric you have WITH YOU. Seem obvious? Yeah it is. I still left it behind. However, here's what I came home with:



I'm pretty pleased with how I did. My tip is to choose fabric with some depth and more than one tone of the the colour you're going for.

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I had my first quilting class on Wednesday, and I can't wait for the next one. I'm piecing this quilt the same way as the last one- by sewing long strips together and then cutting them up, I'll show you below. Faye (the tutor) showed me a nifty trick within 30 seconds- using strips of masking tape to indicate which line to cut to on the ruler. I was thrilled by the simplicity of it!



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Strip Piecing

Cut stips the width of your fabric, and sew them together.



Cut across the strips the desired width (mine are 3" x 3")



Assemble and sew your blocks.





I've finished all the blocks for my top, I just need to sew it together. I'm thinking Faye will have some nifty tricks for this, so will wait till Wednesday to put it togther.

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I realise all this is quite basic. It's less a tutorial for you than a documentation for me, but I'd be thrilled to hear if you've found it useful!

I'd also like to add that Michelle was spot on in her comments on the last post- my measurements don't include fabric for the backing or binding- I'm using the sheet for both and as I have plenty of fabric I didn't bother working it all out.

Also, I had enough fabric to put my blocks together...just! I have a couple of joins in places but I'm not fussed. Next time I'd add an extra width to my measurements when I buy them.