I've been kind of obsessed with looking at pretty quilts for a while now.  I have a few quilting books and am part of a few quilting photo pools on flickr.  I've done some tiny quilting projects (christmas ornaments, etc) in the past few years.  This is my biggest one. 

When I found out I was pregnant, I went out and bought fabric for a baby quilt.  I bought orange and pinkish fabrics.  For a girl quilt.  It was way too early to be buying gender-specific stuff but i did anyway.

So, instructions.  Here's what you'll need:

-your fabric.  probably about a quarter of a yard of each color/pattern block you'll want.  the white in my quilt is flannel, i used probably about half a yard of it. also, a yard of fabric for the backing and about a quarter of a yard for binding. 

-batting or cotton or whatever for the middle layer.

-matching (or contrasting - your call) thread.

-a sewing machine.  i mean, you could do this by hand if you're amish.

-a rotary cutter and mat.  seriously, this makes things SO MUCH EASIER.

-an iron.

-a large flat area on which to work.  i did the bulk of my work on the floor and on the top of the washing machine.

-basting safety pins

Cut your sqares.  I cut mine to 5" by 5".  I don't know why.  There was no technical reason (you'll find this to be a common theme).  This was probably the most labor-intensive part, especially for a preggo with a big buddha belly.  Hence, cutting on top of the washing machine.  I cut a million squares.  Way too many.  Oh well.  If you want the white sqares in there, you have to cut twice as many of those.  Duh.

Lay your sqares out.  Re-arrange them until you're satisfied with the pattern.

Now start your sewing.  Sew your short rows first.  I had eight rows of six squares.  Make sure you sew the same distance in on every square.  I'm sure there is a technical term for this but I don't know it.  It's just important to make sure every square is sewn the same.

Iron all the seams flat .  You may be tempted to skip this step.  Don't.  Ironing is really important in quilting.  I like using the steam setting.  Mainly because the "sssss" of the ironing is satisfying to me.

Now sew all your rows of blocks together.  Again, make sure the hem allowance (THERE!  thought of the technical term) is the same on every row. 

Iron again.

Your quilt top is done!!  Good job.

Now is when you're really going to need your large, flat work area.  Lay your rotary mat down.  Now you're basically going to make a fabric sandwich.  Yum.  Lay your backing fabric down, right-side-down.  Then lay your  middle fabric down.  then lay your quilt top on top, right-side-up.

Now you baste the layers together.  Do this so that when you actually quilt the fabric together, the layers don't shift.  There are many different ways to baste.  I do it with special basting safety pins which are similar to regular safety pins but bent, so they're easier to manipulate through the layers.  Start in the middle and work your way to the outside.  I had one safety pin on each white square.

Now you are ready to quilt.  You can quilt in any pattern.  Since my quilt is so squarey I decided to do some curvy lines for the quilting.  The first few I marked with chalk, then I gained confidence and did the rest free-hand.

Now you have to square up the quilt.  I found this process slightly terrifying because I felt like I was ruining all the work I had previously done.  Lay your quilt on your mat.  Eye it out and cut one side so it's completely straight.  Then cut the edges off.  Once you've done one edge, the rest are easy.  Just square it up using your mat and ruler thingy.

Now that your quilt is perfectly rectangular, it's time to bind it.  I made my own binding tape.  Here's how you do it.

Cut strips of fabric.  I cut mine 2" wide.  Cut enough to go completely around the quilt and then some.  Sew the strips together so you have one long strip.  Now iron that strip in half, lengthwise, with the wrong sides together.  The steam setting helps immensely.  Once you've done that, go back to the beginning of the strip and iron each raw edge to the center line.  Then iron it in half.  Basically, if you cut 2" strips, you'll end up with 1/2" binding tape. 

There is a little sewing do-hickey that helps you do this.  It's called a bias-tape maker, I believe.  I have one.  I can't for the life of me figure out how to use it correctly and accurately and find it turns out better if I just do it myself.

Now attach your binding.  This is the most complicated and time-consuming part for me.  You can also pay someone to have this part professionally done for you.  You sort of fold the binding over the raw edges of your quilt and sew it on.  You want to sew as close to the edge of the binding as possible in order to get enough quilt under the binding for it not to fray out.  Corners are tough.  Leave a few inches of binding at each end, and when you're done, fold them over and sew it shut.

There are many, many online tutorials, videos and resources to help with the whole quilting process.  Use them!  I especially find them helpful for binding and binding corners.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with my quilt.  Here's what I would have changed.

-I did lay my sqares out, but somewhere in the process of sewing the rows together, they got mixed up.  The end result isn't too bad, there are just colors close together that I would have liked spaced out more.

-I pre-washed my fabric because I was scared that if I waited and washed the quilt once it was all assembled, the colors would bleed onto the white flannel.  I wish I wouldn't have done this.  I guess if your assemble your quilt THEN wash it, the fabric shrinks up a tiny bit and corrects any puckers that occured during your quilting.

-I would have ironed the quilt top better.  I did iron it, but I would have made sure every seam was pressed tight.  You can really see the imperfections in the final product.  I mean, I can.

-I just kind of suck at binding.  That will come with more practice, though.

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