Friday, April 9, 2021

Quilted Baby Quilts

The baby quilts I pieced in March have been quilted. Machine quilting is not my favorite thing to do but I kept after them and they're quilted.

Some quilters are able to free hand quilt beautiful quilting designs with their sewing machine. I'm not one of them, my quilting is basic. 

You can see on this quilt the border is baptist fan. The pieced center is quilted 1/2" from the seam line both horizontally and vertically. Those red blocks are actually pink blocks.

The center of the lavender quilt was quilted in the ditch vertically and horizontally then diagonally both directions.



This dark yellow quilt was quilted 1/2" from the seam line in just one direction and carried through the outside borders.



The center of the light yellow quilt was quilted with a clam shell design then baptist fans for the outside border.


I had a large cable stencil I traced overall the green quilt. It was harder to quilt those curved lines than I anticipated but it's finished!

Last fall I bought some new king sized flannel sheets. We use regular sized pillows on our bed so I didn't need the pillowcases. I removed the stitching then sewed them together for the backs of two of these crib quilts. I thought the backs looked nice mixing the two fabrics together.

You can see the cable quilting on the back of the left quilt.

I had an extra top sheet so I used that for two quilt backs. 


I needed to get a new set of sheets for the warmer days that are coming. Again I used the pillowcase fabric for backing.


I used striped fabrics for binding on all the quilts. They all measure 40" by 46" and have been donated to the daycare center at my church.

Linking to Put Your Foot DownNeedle & Thread Thursday, Peacock Party, Whoop Whoop PartyTGIFF!, Finished Or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Brag About Your Beauties, Let's Make Baby Quilts,  Free Motion Mavericks, H2H 2021, Oh Scrap

32 comments:

Rosa said...

I love the colors on the baby quilts, especially the first with the pink and red. Smart to use the extra pillow cases as backings. I hope you don't mind: I'm definitely stealing that idea!

karenbbsnow said...

Beautiful baby quilts Gretchen, so many finishes!

Jenny said...

Such a lot of wonderful finishes, I'm sure they will well used and loved. Well done!

Elizabeth V Kelbaugh said...

Lovely, bright quilts. Fabulous job!

Gretchen Weaver said...

Why would I mind? I learn so much from other quilters, I'm glad when someone gets an idea from me. Happy stitching!

Cathy said...

I love the clothesline photo of those fantastic quilts! I think your DSM quilting is a lot fancier than mine. I even have a difficult time staying in the ditch! Whatever works! Oh, I like that pillowcase for backing idea too.

Gretchen Weaver said...

Stitch in the ditch can be challenging, that's why I quilted 1/2" from the seamline! I challenged myself to try to quilt each quilt differently. I was very glad when they were all finished.

Linda M @ Pieceful Kingdom said...

Those are fantastic quilts! Congratulations on the finishes!

maggie fellow said...

wonderful finishes- such happy quilts. I use recycled for backs when I can

Nancy @ Grace and Peace Quilting said...

I love your clothesline photo shot of so many colorful quilts, Gretchen!!! Great job getting so many tops quilted, bound and finished!!! Who are they going to?

chrisknits said...

What wonderful finishes!

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

What a super great photo!!! I love seeing them all together!! And the quilting - its perfect!! Those quilts will be so loved and snuggled!!

grammajudyb said...

Awesome job! Every time I read of someone who does their own quilting on their DSM I am inspired! Thanks for showing and detailing your work! Maybe I can do it too!

Quilting Babcia said...

You described your machine quilting as basic, but it looks pretty wonderful to me! Sweet quilts, so cheery.

Pamela Arbour said...

You did a great job on your quilting. Next time you have a small quilt, just do straight line or a curvy zigzag. It's a little boring but they look really good. Curves are harder than you would think. I am not sure how much practice one would need to get them right. You did a great job.

Deb said...

Great finishes and great quilting! I too quilt my own and every so often, I use a double batt for a winter quilt and it is a trial! But every one is a learning event. So glad you stuck to it and got them done!
Stay safe and sew on !

Nikki said...

Super idea about flannel sheets. Love the quilts and your quilting.

Jayne Honnold said...

Thank you for sharing! Even though they are hard to do on a sewing machine, you are to be commended for staying with it and producing some true beauties! And donating them!?!? Go, You!!!

The Joyful Quilter said...

Fabulous finishes, one and all, Gretchen!!

Sue said...

Your baby quilts are lovely Gretchen, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with your machine quilting! A great idea using the pillowcases. I have alot that are never used. I'll have to rethink what to do with them. Have you ever put polar fleece on the backs? I'm not sure if that acceptable, as they may get to hot under the quilt.

Created by Kathi said...

I love all of these baby quilts... machine quilting was wise and I love your binding .... wide and stripy! Thanks for sharing your donated quilts too :) Congrats on a job well done! I am sure they will be loved <3
Kathi

Jayne said...

Seeing all the baby quilts finished is amazing and a big achievement! Brilliant idea to use the pillow cases. Who would have thought of that?!

Vicki in MN said...

I love that photographed them all hanging on the line, so pretty! It goes to show that simple piecing can lead to spectacular quilts.

TerryKnott.blogspot.com said...

Your clothesline photo is stunning of all your finished quilts. Good for you to persevere with your machine quilting. I'm more of a free motion quilter, but I've been challenging myself to do more quilting with the walking foot. Having the feed dogs do the work of pushing the fabric through the machine is much easier on my body! Good for you to find creative ways for mixing up your quilting!

Andree G. Faubert said...

Hi Gretchin, your baby quilts are lovely, as is your quilting. Congrats on those finishes! Take care.

Cynthia Brunz Designs said...

I love your colorful finishes. Thanks for sharing with Oh Scrap!

QuiltGranma said...

Beautiful, Love the quilts!

Gretchen Weaver said...

I've been reading on some blogs where people use sheets for backing so I thought why not pillowcases!

Gretchen Weaver said...

I haven't work with fleece/ It seems I always have something I can using for backing since these are smaller quilts. I use a thing batting in the quilts because of the warmth issue. The children are in a climate controlled room so they don't need heavy quilts.

Gretchen Weaver said...

Our church has a day care. They'll be heavily used and heavily washed. Machine quilting works best for heavy use.

Leanne Parsons said...

They're all beautiful! You did a wonderful job with the quilting on all of them :)

Muv said...

Hello Gretchen, What a gorgeous collection of baby quilts! I love seeing variations on a theme - seeing them all hanging on the line together must have been so satisfying.
Thank you for linking up with Free Motion Mavericks.
Love, Muv