Creating A Crochet Baby Blanket Gift

We have a wonderful family tradition of everyone making at least one homemade gift for Christmas to give another family member. My children have all made at least one blanket to give a family member. The fabrics are fun to choose and put together as we think of the personality of the family members. We have a daughter very much into music so there are always musical motif fabrics in her quilts, a son who loves insects so a quilt with ants or TinoHouse other insects are often made for him. There is the wonderful John Deere fabrics to make beautiful quilts. If you have a hobby or interest there is sure to be a fabric just right to personalize your blanket.

Blanket Quilt Next, pull out your tailor's chalk and a ruler. Lay the ruler on top of the topmost piece of fabric. Starting at the top, and measuring from the edge of the fabric, make a mark every four inches.

For each block you want to make also cut a five-sided piece of solid fabric. Make the sides angular, not parallel. Don't make it too big or too small roughly about a ninth of the block (like a tic tac toe pattern on the muslin foundation square). It will serve as your crazy, off center middle of your design.

String quilts made by women in Gee's Bend, Alabama, and Mid-western Amish communities, have become an art form. Their stringed blocks are often square in shape or close to it, with one above the other. Sometimes sashing strips divide the blocks. The Amish string quilts can look like stacks of small squares. This pattern is named Coins.

However, if we have kids at home, we could not just pick any kind of quilt for any family member. Especially boys, they tend to get as picky as the girls when it comes to these. Where and how can we get ideas for boys of different age ranges?

Making a quilt takes some time and effort. You may want to get started as soon as you find out your loved one is having a baby. This will leave you plenty of time to get the quilt done, and contact other family members who want to be involved in the project.

You can either hand quilt or machine quilt your baby shower gift. Following the perimeter of the shape or you can choose to use a quilter's pencil and template and draw a design and quilt the design. Either way, you will be stitching through all three layers, which not only fasten the layers together, but create a design, as you quilt.