I should be working on charity quilts but I am so far behind on some things I need to do that they will simply have to wait a bit more. I feel bad but I feel worse that I don’t have a baby quilt made for a baby born in December. So it was a stop everything and work on a baby quilt.
Last week I showed you come blocks and asked for suggestions. Here are the blocks.
Originally I thought to have a big inner square, surround them with these scrappy blocks and add another outer border and call it good. That sounded fine but nothing clicked no matter how many different fabrics I tried. When I asked for suggestions last week someone said how about a panel.
Hmmm…That got me thinking. I had an ABC panel. What if I cut the pieces apart and somehow used them. Hmmm….
Yep…I was liking this idea. Something was clicking. Here’s my layout idea.Um…YES…I’m loving this idea.
As with any ABC quilt there’s always a problem. ALWAYS. There are 26 letters in the alphabet and 26 is not divisible in any obvious way….so what’s a quilter to do? I decided move forward. Sew as much as could and then it would be easier to make a decision when I saw how it looked together.
That brought me to this.
I sent a picture to Kelli and she squealed. She rated it as in the top five of all quilts I’ve made…That’s a high compliment. I don’t know if I agree but I do love it so far. But how do I finish that last row?
After much consideration, I came up with this.
So here’s how the top looks now. Sorry the photo is a little dark. It was night when I snapped the photo.
The last row is attached.
Now I am debating again. How do I finish this? Right now I am thinking a scrappy inner border in white and a piano keyboard in scrappy goodness around the outside. What do you think? Feel free to leave a comment and let me know. I really want to get this one finished. I have to get a quilt made for the firemen benefit coming up the first Sunday in March…Hmm. Yep, cutting that deadline close.
I am guessing someone is going to ask what the ABC panel is that I used to make this. So I snapped a picture of the selvage. I looked a bit of it and couldn’t find it as now I wish I had bought about three more of the panel. I saw it was manufactured in 2012. That leaves me with not much hope of finding it again. Thankfully I do have one more panel.
If anyone finds it for sale, please let me know. I’m always making baby quilts and this panel, I love!
UPDATE: A reader did find this panel available for sale. It is available here.
Love, love, love your solution of using panel for baby quilt & the borders you will use to finish!! I agree w/ Kelli that it is one of your top quilts!! I love & do so admire your big warm generous heart, also but I think some of your quilt making ~ for gifts & benefits ~ should come first over charity quilts especially w/o any guilty thoughts from you!!
Hi Jo, I found the above panel on Quilters’ Roundup site for $7.13, plus postage. I also found it on a site here in Australia and even though I don’t need a panel or a baby quilt I may be inclined to order one to have on hand. You just never know do you! I love what you have done with this panel, it is very inspiring.
Such a cute baby quilt! Absolutely love it! Good job! Great idea on finishing that last row. Can’t wait to see how you finish it.
You will come up with a good border idea. You are just lucky that the baby’s name was not Genevieve or Annabelle, etc. You came up with a wonderful baby quilt
I think the top has enough movement. Choose a solid border of a primary color and call it done! Love this “panel quilt” :-)
Your bright, scrappy quilt will be loved and does not really need a border unless to make it larger. Another way to work with the 26 letters is to add 2 blocks on the top row (one at each end of ABC) and 2 on the bottom row (XYZ) for 30 or 5 by 6.
It’s a beautiful baby quilt, Jo. I don’t blame Kelli for squealing. I like my quilts a little less busy, so I would slap a plain, bright border on it to hold everything in. The edges get the most stress, especially on a baby quilt, and a solid border would withstand the use and dragging better. Just my 2 cents.
I think a white border would be good, the quilt looks great, but I think it needs the white to calm it down it a bit from all of the bright scrappiness.
I love it….just the way it is! If you really want a border any solid bright color would be perfect. I’m sure whatever you do will make this a well loved quilt!
perfect and oh so cute!
This is so fun and cheerful! I could drown in these colors. Just beautiful.
Love it.❤️
Love it.❤️Jane is a lucky little girl.
it needs a solid color border.
That turned out beautifully! So much more colorful and interesting this way. Lucky baby! She is going to have so much fun with this!
Love this quilt! I like the idea of a solid border too. :)
Wow, it is adorable! Love how you used the panel to make it all fit and putting the child’s name on was a special touch.
I would choose a solid colour border. Primary colour I think but you will know which colour to choose when you audition a few. Great baby quilt, love the addition of baby’s name on the front.
What a lucky baby to get this one….
Do you have any yardstick/ruler fabric? A couple of years ago I got some that was done in yellow. Then you could use the quilt to teach the alphabet and numbers and measuring!
If you do have the ruler fabric, I might do a strip of black, then the ruler fabric, then a file strip of black. They could just be 1.5 inches or so – not really big, but the black would set off the yellow.
I love love love your final design, waaaay better than your original thought. So glad you changed it! The family will love it!
Love how your ABC quilt is coming along. How about a small dark inner border (brown or black) to frame the center and a larger solid red outer border. Could do a scrappy binding with all colors to tie into the colorful pieced blocks.
TOTES ADORBS – what my teenager would say – and i completely agree – totally adorable!!!!
Such a cute quilt! Put a border on it if you think it needs it, but I’d put something that won’t show dirt (not white!) as I expect this quilt will be dragged all over the place.
This quilt is fantastic! You never cease to amaze me.