Mini Charm Baby Boy Quilt

This blog post is specifically for an entry into Amy's Creative Side Blogger's Quilt Festival for the fall of 2012

 

I've got another project completed to add to my baby stash pile.  Stephanie made a special request for this type of baby quilt.  I will call it a raw edge homespun mini charm quilt.  All squares are cut at 2.5 inches and the finished quilt measures 40" X 40".

 

Because the quilt technique requires using a lot of adhesive spray, the first thing I did was cover my dining room table with an old tablecloth and secure it with some masking tape.... 

All fabrics are homespuns that I purchased at Joann's.  The backing is 1.25 yards.  I started off by taping the backing to the tablecloth.  Homespuns have no right or wrong side so that makes the project go a little quicker....

Next step was to spray the backing with adhesive spray and then top it with cotton batting.

You need to work quickly to get the batting smoothed out.  If it lays to long on the adhesive without being moved you lose some of the mobility of it....

After the batting is smoothed out, spray it with adhesive and lay down the muslin.  I chose a high quality white muslin and I had to trim it to the size I wanted.

You now have 3 layers spray basted together, the backing, the batting and the muslin.....

Next I drew a grid so I could get my mini charm squares spaced evenly.  To find the center of the quilt I took two pieces of twine and made an X over the fabric.

I then used my measuring tape and drew a line vertically and horizontally.....

My pictures got out of sequence here, but from those 2 lines I spaced my other lines 3 inches apart to make my grid.  I used a regular pencil and marked only dark enough to be able to see the lines.  Next time I will spend the money and buy a colored fabric pencil.  Here are my mini charm squares all cut to 2.5 inches and all homespun fabrics.  I chose homespuns because the fray easy.

Here's how the grid turned out.........

Now the most exciting part of the project.....arranging all the charm squares.  This took a while because I wanted to make sure no two same fabrics were next to each other.  I decided to place each charm square inside the top right corner of each 3" square drawn with pencil.  That would keep everything lined up good!

I walked around the table many times, placing and replacing the squares.  And then I took pictures with my digital camera to see how I liked the placement.  Seeing it in a picture gives you a different perspective and lets you see easily if you have too many dark squares next to each other.

After I was happy with all placements, it was time to secure each square to the muslin.

I spray basted each square and firmly pressed it to the muslin.  I covered a dish plate with wax paper and sprayed four squares at a time and then transferred them to the quilt top.  The wax paper got really sticky and I had to change it out several times.  I need a better idea than this one!

Next it was time to pin the quilt for added security...........

I placed a straight pin every other square both directions, pinning in the open muslin and not into the homespuns.

I stitched each square in four directions with 1/4 inch margins.  I sewed in long rows top to bottom then switched directions....

The spray basting makes this go really fast since everything is secured very well.  Before I started this step, I had to scrub my wood floor around the table.  The basting spray got on the floor and was sticky.

I chose one print from the quilt top for the binding.  I machine stitched it to the front and hand stitched it to the back.  Here's how the baby quilt looked after I got the binding on.....

I let Stephanie chose the color the backing, she did well !  It will be perfect for a little boy!

Next came another fun part.  Putting the quilt through two wash cycles.  I used Dreft baby laundry detergent and a gentle cycle, then dried on high heat.  The high heat really helped the cotton batting pucker up good.  Between the two cycles, I clipped threads.....a lot of threads........and cleaned out the washer and dryer of all the threads........a lot threads there too !

One soft homemade baby quilt ready and waiting for my grandson.