Lavender and Gray Baby Quilt

Once the color scheme of the nursery was decided, I began to think of ideas to decorate – in shades of lavender and gray. Of course, since I made a baby quilt for big sister, Shreya, I knew I had to make one for the new little one. One of my most treasured possessions is my baby quilt handmade by my great-grandmother, whom I never met. I have it hanging in my guestroom. So, naturally I wanted to create baby quilts for my granddaughters, in the hopes they will become treasured heirlooms too.

I found the perfect butterfly print in lavender and gray at Joann’s Fabrics – along with some coordinating fabrics and fat quarters in shades of gray and lavender. I used the same pattern that I used for Shreya’s quilt, which I made in pink and brown to match her nursery. It’s a simple and quick pattern for a baby quilt, called Speedy Baby Quilt 2, which you can download here.

How To

With all the cutting I needed to do, I decided to treat myself to this Fiskars cutting mat that came with the ruler and rotary cutter. Boy did it make the cutting go quicker and easier! If you do any quilting or sewing of small items, I highly recommend you get one of these. (link below)

Once I cut the pieces and assembled the top, I layered with my batting and backing fabric. I held the layers together with large safety pins, while I machine quilted the layers together.

I knew how I’d quilt the squares, but wasn’t sure how to quilt the center. Then I realized I could just sew figure 8s around the circles. Maybe you can see the quilting if you click to enlarge the photo.

The butterfly applique in the corner was actually to cover up a mistake. I had embroidered the baby’s name – which I found out was changed. So I decided to create a butterfly applique, copying one of the butterflies in the fabric.

The pattern doesn’t call for it, but I like to add a ruffle around the outside edge of baby quilts I make for little girls.

I’ve been trying to put little labels in the girls’ clothing that I make – “made with love by Nani.” I found the ones printed on the inkjet printer just wash away after a few washings.

So I’ve played around with other ideas. I’ve made fabric labels using iron on transfer paper, which work ok. In this case, I reversed printed a sheet of labels on sublimation paper with sublimation ink and ironed onto polyester ribbon. So far, that seems to work ok.

Someone gave Beth a crib skirt – and it just happened to have coordinating ribbons of lavender around the bottom. Works perfect in the lavender and gray nursery!

Lavender and Gray Baby Quilt Supplies

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