Hubby’s niece had a baby earlier this month. Â The new baby is Jonathon and of course he needs a quilt. Â I have so many things on my plate but when a baby comes some of that has to be put on hold and a quilt needs to made.
I had no idea what to make and honestly, I’m not good at boy quilts….No matter how I look at fabric or color schemes all I see is florals or things that look girly to me. Â For some reason even polka dots can look girly to me. Â Plaids are about the only thing that look boyish to me. Â I also don’t ever make quilts with pastel baby prints for a boy or a girl. Â I want to make something that grows with a baby.
With my attitude you can see that it’s hard to figure out what to do when I need a boy quilt. Â I decided to just think about for a bit and work on a few other projects….well early last week I was cutting up some scrap fabric so that my Neighbor Girl would have more 5″ squares in case she comes to sew. Â Well in the bag with scrap fabric was this….
They seem to be the left over trimmings from someone’s project. Â I know the fabric came from a blog reader but I have not idea who or what the left overs were from. Â Â That’s when I decided that’s it. Â These are going to be the start of the baby quilt.
I knew I had some solid gray fabric and thought maybe I could add that. Â Here’s what I ended up doing. Â I sewed the gifted pieces into 4 patches. Â Some of them were different sizes so I decided that I would trim the four patches so that they would look wonky….and I added the gray borders.
From there I decided to dig through my own solids and see if I had any matching (or close colored) solids. Â I did and cut them into random width strips. Â I started adding the strips around the block with the intention that I would finish the block with gray around the outside and the block would be 12 1/2″ unfinished.
This was free form pieces with no pre cut units. Â I added to the block however my mood desired. Â I quickly learned that it was really handy to lay my cutting ruler in front of my machine so I would know when to stop adding colored pieces and add gray instead. Â 
I had to be up and down ironing these a lot.
Finally it was time to trim the blocks….a new blade in the rotary cutter was very appreciated. Â (why do wait so long to replace the blade?)
After two morning sewing sessions and one evening session I have 16 blocks made. Â Then it was time for a layout…what do you think?
The blocks are all wonky….none the same. Â I really like them!
When I make baby quilts I like them to grow with the child. Â This one will be over 50 x 50…something a toddler can love too.
Now I am on to deciding about some sashing. Â I purposely didn’t use any red in the blocks. Â Originally I thought I’d do a red sashing….now I am leaning towards a gray sashing and putting red cornerstones with a red binding. Â (Imagine that! Â Me picking red!)
These were so fun to make. Â I still have the mess of the blocks out next to my sewing machine. Â I still have some four patches left so my plan is to make another batch of blocks so I have them for the next boy baby quilt. Â That would put me ahead of the baby quilt making for once!!
I am in the market for a big boy print for the back…something that’s farm-ish or construction trucks…or frogs. Â Something that’s really boyish.
These were SUPER fun to work on. Â I don’t know who sent the scrap leftovers to me that started the whole project but thanks so much. Â I’m having a blast working with them. Â I’ve not really made a solid quilt before. Â I had imagined it might be boring but nope…I’m in love.
To see what others are working on, check out Patchwork Times.
Love the quilt! It is so fun to be creative with other people’s castoffs!
BTW, Judy is no longer doing the link-up at Patchwork Times. :(
I love this baby boy/toddler quilt and what you do with a few scraps! Great work Judy!
Jo, this quilt is wonderful! The improv blocks are so much fun! Very “boy!”
What a cute baby quilt! Love those wonky blocks!!!! Very creative quilt Jo!!!
Very cute and great use of what someone else didn’t want. Thanks for sharing.
I love these blocks! And I would simply sew them together without sashing and bind with red!
Cute baby quilt! I wonder if a magazine would publish it. When I looked at the blocks laid out I thought you had sashed them with black. What about that as a change from red? Whatever you decide itch will be a great quilt!
The wonky blocks are a perfect baby boy quilt, hope you find the right backing. It is a super cute pattern idea and it would work for lots of charity places also. Happy Stitching
Very cute! Must try for next baby in the family. Thanks for sharing!
so bright and cheerful! Really like this one, it does look “for a boy”. can’t wait to see the final product. I love watching how plans come together in a quilters mind.
Judy Hansen has picked up the Design Wall Monday’s (Judy Laquidara approved) at http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.ca/ !
I don’t know why, but I did not expect “improv” from you. Lol. However I love what you did. It made a great quilt top. Maybe I need to try this. Do you think you’ll do more? Elaine
Judy does not do the stash report anymore either
Good idea for a boy quilt! Backing could be numbers, alphabet, anything cars or trucks, trains, animals of all kinds, DINOSAURS. By the time boys are toddlers they fall in love with dinosaurs.
When I first saw the stash of colored fabric what I pictured in my head was a sail boat. You did a great job on this quilt.
So cute, and perfect for a boy, wish I could be as creative as you! I like the idea of the big boy fabric on the back too. He will love both sides! Also thanks for the recent post showing the video on the swirl pattern you use for your quilts. I have been putting off trying to learn FMQ but this particular pattern looks like fun to try. Got to get a whiteboard and try it!
Jo, I love the solids and the wonkiness! This will be a quilt Jonathon will love when he is too old to be seen with a “baby” quilt.
Super cute! I love the modern kind of abstract look of this. I too like to make baby quilts that aren’t too baby like. I see simple straight line quilting on this one. I have to put this on my list to make!
2 thumbs up! Love the scrappy odd ball shaped blocks!
I LOVE the wonkiness of this quilt! It’s going t look fabulous when finished.