His & Hers Personalized Baby Quilts

I'm a mom of twins, a boy and a girl.  A friend of mine just had twins herself and I decided it might be fun to find a way to use the same fabric line to make a boy and a girl version quilt.  I got the idea for this quilt from a pillow I made for Moda Bake Shop last year. You can see it here, it would be fun to make one to match the quilt using your scraps.

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1 Layer Cake: (you can use 1 layer cake for both quilts) I used Tweet Tweet by Keiki
1 yard white fabric per quilt for the center
1 yard fabric per quilt for backing
1/2 yard fabric per quilt for binding
Batting
Heat N Bond Lite


Buttons, colored thread to embellish applique
Smiley Monster Font (can be downloaded free)

First you will want to sort and pick your fabrics. Take your layer cake and divide it into a "boy" and a "girl" pile.

Next you want to decide which layer cake squares you want to use for the block border.  You will also want to set aside the layer cake squares you want to use for the applique names & shapes. If you want to have the tree applique (like on the boy quilt) you may need more than one layer cake piece to get enough  trees to cut out.

Cut the layer cake squares you want to use for the border in half so that they are 5" x 10". You will need a total of (14)  5" x 10" blocks for each quilt. I used some fabrics twice, but you will have plenty of layer cake pieces if you do not want to repeat any fabrics.

Sew (4) 5" x 10" pieces together along the short sides. Press & set aside. Repeat.

Sew (3) 5" x 10" pieces together along the short sides. Press & set aside. Repeat.

Cut your white fabric to 29 3/4" x 29 1/2"

Sew one of the 3 block strips to the 29 1/2" side of the white fabric. Repeat by sewing the other 3 block strip to the other side.

Press.

Sew the 4 block strips to the other 2 sides of the white block. Press. Trim off excess if necessary.

Quilt as desired. I quilted mine with a walking foot in straight lines approximately 2" apart.

Using a word processing program and the font Smiley Monster, print your name approx 4" tall. You may need to make it slightly smaller if you are printing a large name.

Trace the letters backwards onto the slick side of a piece of Heat n Bond Lite. Cut out roughly and iron onto wrong side of fabric. Cut out. You can see photos of my applique method here.

Apply to lower right hand corner of the quilted top approx. 2" from the bottom border.

I used the bird in the fabric as a guide for my bird appliqué.  I just scanned the fabric and printed the bird  enlarged so that it is about 4" tall.  I then pieced it using scraps from my layer cake.

Stitch around the letters and pieces of the bird.  Using brown thread in your machine stitch in legs for the bird.  Sew a button for its eye.

For the boys quilt, I cut out 5 trees from the layer cake pieces. I applied Heat n Bond Lite to the back and ironed them onto the quilt top. I then stitched around the edges, using brown thread for the tree trunks.

After you have finished the applique, bind the quilt as desired.

Finished size is approx: 30"x30"

Two or three personalized baby quilts from one layer cake.

Baby Life Quilt

hey there, Vanessa from V and Co. here.
i've had this quilt bouncing around in my head for quite some time. so when i saw the "make life" line by sweetwater, i instantly knew that this quilt needed to be made out of this line.
it seems like everywhere i turn someone is announcing that they are pregnant or that they just found out what they are having. with just one layer cake i was able to make two completely different color scheme quilts, and i still have some left that i'm working with (another tutorial in the works with the leftovers!)

shall we get started?

1 make life layer cake.
for each quilt:
1 1/4 yards of background fabric (shown are:5424 20 Apple and 5424 24 Earth )
1 1/2 yards fabric for back (used but now shown: 5421 25 Ocean, and 5421 22 Apple
1/2 yard of fabric for binding (5424 19 Ocean and 5424 11 Apple)
pattern for words (get pdf here)
heat and bond


cut your background fabric to measure 38 by 36 inches.
you will need to print out the letters pdf file. and gather up a few squares you would like to use as your letters. i chose to use the solid color squares but you can use whichever you would like.
next i traced onto my heat and bond the letters that i needed.


cut out your letters but leaving a little paper around each letter. (it makes for cutting the letter out easier i think)
iron onto the wrong side of your fabric. (make sure you utilize your fabric and try to use as little fabric as possible by starting in the corner.)

cut out your letters.
(with paper still on the back) see where you would like to place your words. make sure they are straight by using a ruler.
i measured 3 1/2 inches from the bottom and left side of my fabric as the place where i wanted my last word to be.
i then placed my words up from there.
take off the paper from the back and when you have the placement of where you want the letters, iron them down onto your fabric.
**to secure your letters either zig zag or blanket stitch around your letters. when i do this i like to use clear thread.
(i didn't on these quilts knowing that these were just going to be "for show" quilts)
i then took the rest of my squares. i picked out the ones i wanted to be in my border.
cut out strips with widths of 1 1/2 inches. i did make them different lengths because i wanted a scrappy look.

i then sewed my strips together so they measured 1 1/2 by 38 inches.


and then sewed them to the left and right of my main panel.
the top and bottom scrappy border should measure 1 1/2 by 38

next you are going to cut out two strips of your remaining background fabric to 2 by 40 inches.
this will be your left and right outer border.
your top and bottom border will measure 2 by 41 inches


sew them on to the top and bottom.
your finished quilt top will measure 40 by 41 inches.
when you are ready to bind your quilt, i have a binding tutorial on my blog: check it out here

two quilts with the capability of making a few more...or wait and see what i do with the rest of it. tutorial coming soon to my blog.
now your baby, or your friend's baby can have a totally cute mod baby quilt and the color combos are endless with this line!

thanks! and can't wait to show you what i do with the rest of scraps!
tutorial and pictures brought to you by V and Co.