Make It More Personal With Custom Blankets

Now it is time to start the actual quilting process. You need a small set of scissors, quilt needles (these have a larger eye but are very sharp in order to go through all the layers), quilting thread, thimble and a very comfortable chair.

First decide on the finished foundation (muslin) size for each block and cut the muslin one half inch larger than the desired finished block size. This allows for any puckering or tight tension variations that could draw up the size. You can always cut the finished piece down to the proper size later. Also remember that the finished block size in this case is the unfinished block size for your quilt. You will have to have a seam allowance to sew your blocks together into a quilt. A half inch should provide this necessary allowance.

If you are starting from scratch keep a few things in mind. Keep your time constraints in mind when deciding what type of baby quilt to make. A crocheted version takes the longest amount of time, a patchwork version requires a great deal more work than say a tie version.

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.

If you are better with a needle, you can quilt a blanket. Quilting is a little bit more complicated, unless you've done it before and are good at it. You can shoot for fleece cloth and make soft blankets or regular fabric and go for crazy colors and patterns. If you aren't good at quilting, you can even just take an ordinary blanket and embroider it yourself with the baby's name or a personal message.

Blanket Quilt Have you ever needed to throw together a quick quilt? Many quilting pros laugh at the notion, but sometimes we need a quick gift to give and want to make it personal. Lap quilts and baby quilts are very easy to create on an embroidery machine.

We have taken our family on many picnics. These picnics are not complete without a quilt, to cuddle on after we have our meal. We have recently bought a Jeep and we always have a quilt with us in the Jeep as we go on outings. We tend to use heavier quilts for these outings because of the sturdy sewing and materials that are used, the quilt will not show the wear of outdoors as easily.