What do you do when you are waiting for the baby to arrive? Well you make another quilt, of course!
I have been really eager to try a stacked coin quilt since I saw this one at Sew-Handmade. Since I have extra time and nursery fabric on my hands, I decided to make a smaller one from scrap fabrics. I loosely followed this tutorial at Moda. I had a stack of 6″x6″ Amy Butler Midwest Modern squares, so I decided to make my coins 3″X6″ (including seam allowance). That way I could do fewer rows, yet still make the quilt wide enough, since I was limited on my scrap fabric. I also made the “2-D Zoo” squares 5″x 6″ to show off the pattern and I staggered one in each row.
Here is the front all pinned and ready to be quilted:
The finished quilt is going to be about 31″x49″, so it really didn’t turn out that small in the end, even though it is meant to be a travel quilt. It won’t be quite as near and dear to me as the nursery quilt, though, plus I am making it lighter weight, with a cotton backing instead of the minky that I used for the nursery quilt. It should be perfect for laying the baby on the floor for tummy time when we are visiting the in-laws up in Tahoe, or my family back East. I also hope the baby enjoys all the different prints!
The back:
The back is pieced and the main fabric is “Entertaining Elephants” by Alexander Henry. I LOVE this fabric, so I was really glad I got utilize more than a 5″ square of it at a time.
Stacked coin quilts are so quick and easy to piece, especially if you use the charm packs from Moda instead of cutting scraps up like I did. I would definitely suggest this for a first quilt.
I wasn’t too happy with the batting I used, so I am hoping it turns out ok when I wash it. I normally use Bamboo batting, or “Warm and White”, but I had some 80/20 cotton/poly batting from Jo-Anns that I bought on sale awhile ago. It pulled apart like cotton candy when I took it out of the package, so hopefully once it is quilted and washed it won’t desintegrate! I am trying to work with supplies I already own, so it will have to do.
I am also considering trying a different quilting technique, or pattern. I normally do free motion and sew a meandering “puzzle” pattern. I thought maybe I should try something different this time, but I am a little nervous!
Also in the works is a gift for a friend who is having a little girl in November (I always seem to have to work on two projects at the same time), so I will show photos of that after I give it to her (Shhhhhh). Some of the techniques I am trying here are practice for that gift.
I used the Jo-Ann 80/20 for a full-size quilt, had the same doubts as you about the polyester, and would up LOVING it! (surprised my anti-synthetic snob soul very much). It was so light and snuggly and I even slept under one spring night here in SoCal and it didn’t make me too warm!
Hi there… I feel so famous. 🙂 I love your quilt, too. When is your baby due? I’m 36 weeks now and I’ve made FOUR quilts for our baby. Madness! 🙂
Alison, that is good to know about the batting! I want it to be lightweight, so hopefully it will be perfect.
Jodie, you ARE famous! I love your projects!
I will be 39 weeks on Wednesday, but according to my OB, Doula and Chiropractor, this baby isn’t coming out anytime soon:( Hopefully he will fool them all. So now I try to keep busy! I have made two for the baby (including this one), one for myself, one for a friend, one is in the works for another friend and one is in the works for my mom. I am obsessed with quilting!