7 Great Ideas For Locating That Perfect Baby Gift

Shortly after her death I came across the quilt that she made for my mother a few years before losing her eyesight. Suddenly it began to dawn upon me. When I looked at the quilt, I did not see a blanket. Instead, I saw a scrapbook made from material. It was as if, by looking at the quilt, I was paging through my family album. I remembered the times when we baked cookies with my mother, the times when my sisters and I played with our tea-set, the first "Superman"-movie I saw with my dad, my first day at school, the visits we had with our grandparents and many other special memories. Each memory was carefully interwoven into this quilt.

For quilting beginners there are kits available that contain all of the material needed to create a quilt. These kits include step by step instructions to help you make the perfect hand crafted quilt for the new addition. Kits are also great because they help new quilters learn the basics of quilting, enabling them to create other, more personalized quilts in the future. While experienced quilters are often aware of the hard work and materials that go into creating the perfect quilt; creating the perfect baby blanket can still be difficult.

Blanket Quilt Seldom were cigar ribbon tops made into quilts with batting and back. Made with silk and unquilted, they were fragile, unlike the string and selvedge edge quilts. Mostly they remained as tops to cover tables, or they were made into pillows.

You and your child may choose those quilts that show a print coming from his favorite book. It is in the books that a child usually makes his dreams from. You may also offer your child some quilts that have the image of their most loved movie character. Boys can choose from Spongebob Squarepants to Superman or from Cookie Monster to the Transformers.

Another way to make a memory quilt is to use all new fabric with a different approach. You could make each square a representation of some part or event of a child's life. Each square would be embellished by applique, embroidery, scanned pictures, iron-on letters, fabric paint or whatever you like. You could ask important people from the child's life to contribute a square or two and to sign their square with their name.

The common thread in string, selvedge edge, and cigar ribbon tops, is that their popularity came about at the time of an economic downturn or a War, or both. The materials used in each were throw-aways being put to use, as a quilt or decoration for women's homes, and they were there for the taking.

Now use a steam iron to turn and press the rectangle over the seam allowance, pressing away from the center piece. Trim the seam allowance close to the stitching line to remove the bulk in your design.