Toy Boxes

My First Patchwork Quilt

When I first got interested in learning to quilt, my favorite local quilt shop didn't have any Quilting 101 classes available.  So I purchased a learn-to-quilt video and went to work.  The beginner's quilt that you make in the video classes is a simple 9-patch, about the size of a crib quilt.  I decided that I wanted to make something that could actually be used, so I picked fabrics in primary colors for a quilt for a new baby.

The finished quilt.

The blocks are just alternating patches in two colors.  When the blocks were finished, I turned them around to form a lattice pattern on the quilt top.  I made 3 borders.  The inner border was the same blue print in the quilt with cornerstones in the yellow fabric.  The second border was bright red with mitered corners.  The 3rd border was a wonderful "crayon scribble" fabric designed by Eric Carle (he of Very Hungry Caterpillar fame), also mitered.

The video suggested quilting by stitching in the ditch for this beginner's project, but I had a feeling that wouldn't work too well.  My blocks weren't all that square, so the seams kind of wandered around the quilt top.  I thought that doing a cross-cross grid would be easier and might take the eye off the "unsquaredness".  The lovely Colleen at Pieceful Quilting had the wonderful idea of using a variegated thread in primary colors.  It really looked good.  And the crisscross quilting actually helped ease some of the blocks into better squares (although as you can see, not PERFECT squares).

Quilting with a variegated thread.

I liked how the quilt looked as it was, so I made the binding in the same fabric as the outer border.

The back of the quilt is another Eric Carle print -- don't you love it?!

I called this quilt "Toy Boxes" because the print fabric in the quilt top is toys, the blocks are "boxes" (squares) and the quilting is also boxes.   I'm not sure how much a baby in Miami needed a quilt, but it was fun to make.  My first real quilt!