Quick Baby Gifts

Who doesn't love homemade baby gifts?

I wasn't always a quilter, but I have always enjoyed making gifts to welcome babies.  I wish I had pictures of all the stuff I made over the years!  For a while, my "staple" baby gift was a piece of fleece with a blanket stitch.  I just found this sample in my closet, made about 5-6 years ago.  I must find a home for it!

1 metre of fleece would make two baby-size blankets. I must have made at least 20 or 30 of those over the years. I also made a few for older children, using 1 meter for one blanket, and many adult size blankets as well, using 2 metres.  Easy math! 

I gave one to my husband when we were first dating.  It is now being used to make forts...

Now, my staple "simple" baby gift is made of a piece of cotton, a piece of flannel, sewn together envelope-style, then quilted (no batting).  These make great stroller blankets.  My kids are all past the stroller stage, but I still use theirs in the car when we travel.

 

I try to always have one or two done and ready to be gifted to a co-worker, or acquaintance.  If my relationship with the person would normally call for a fancier gift but I just don't have the time to make a more elaborate quilt, I use one of these as wrapping for a store-bought gift.

 

One step up from the envelope-style/no batting blanket is the one-cloth quilt with proper batting and binding, like this one:

These quilts are fairly quick to make and provide me with a portable project to keep my hands busy.  This binding was done entirely at the rink over a couple hockey practices.  I also use these smaller quilt to try new quilting designs.  With this particular fabric, I just followed the motif which resulted in nice wavy lines.  Love this!

Here's another one I made.  I don't remember who the fabric is from, but I think it is just gorgeous!  I am sure little D. agrees.

 

 

It's much easier to find beautiful, modern girl appropriate fabric than it is to find boyish or gender neutral fabric.  I was happy to find the old fashioned letters (French General, La Petite Ecole), and the thick flannel that almost looks like wool.  I am not crazy about the binding, but that's the best I could find in my stash.  I am sure little E. does not mind.

 

 

Nothing would make me happier than to come across one of those quilts or blankets, years later, and find out that they are completely worn out.  Except perhaps than receiving a picture of the quilt being used by its owner... Moms, dads, are you reading?

 

Thanks for stopping by!