Zigzag Baby Quilt


Here is my latest quilt and incidentally Bloggers Quilt Festival entry. This is a quilt I started making on a whim a couple weeks ago. When I was at the Paducah Quilt Show I stopped by the Moda Bake Shop booth and they gave out little packs of 2 1/2 inch squares---I'm not sure if there is a name for these--don't most of Moda's pre-cuts have dessert names? Mini layer cake? No...it should be a diet layer cake! ;) Anyway, they were 2 1/2 inch squares from the line California Girl by Fig Tree Quilts. My first thought was, "Yay! Free fabric...how cute!" and my second thought was, "What the heck am I going to do with just forty-two 2 1/2 inch squares?" Thinking I probably wouldn't really be able to use them, I let my girls play with them on the ride home...and they had a great time...scattering them all over the car. Once we got back to Minnesota there were several quilts I needed to start working on, but I kept looking at that little pile of squares...trying to figure out what I could possibly make with them...this is what I ended up with:


I had been wanting to make some type of zigzag quilt for a while but I just hadn't gotten around to it. So I decided to cut my squares in half and arrange them into a couple of zigzags on a (surprise!) white background. I knew piecing the zigzags was out...unless I wanted my finished quilt to be microscopic. So I opted to applique the triangles to the single piece of background fabric. I first drew some guide lines with a water-soluble pen and then laid out the triangles. For the applique, I wanted to try something new.


While at the show I bought some Bo-Nash bonding agent (it's fusible powder). I had heard great things about it for repairing holes in quilt tops, but after seeing the demo at the show I was excited to try it for applique...I hoped it would be a quick and easy way to stick the triangles down before sewing. Once I figured out how to shake it on without the powder going everywhere, it did work like a charm! To make applying the powder easier, I folded a piece of paper in half, dumped a little of the powder in the crease and then used that to shake it into the space where I wanted it...that made it easier to control how much was applied and where it went. After I ironed it all down I stitched around everything with a blanket stitch.


When the top was all done, I decided it needed a cute matching back since the front was so simple. So I ordered this pretty aqua print from the line for the backing, and one of the green prints for the binding. Good job, Moda...your marketing is obviously very effective--you got me to buy more fabric I was never planning on buying! ;) 


For the quilting on this one I planned on just doing this zigzag all over...I got a new right angle ruler at Paducah that I was dying to try out...and this was the perfect quilt for it. I drew some guidelines, but somehow it got a little crazy --some of the zigs and zags were different widths in a couple places. I'm still not sure exactly where I went wrong-- it isn't super obvious, but next time I will have to be a little more careful! The right angle ruler made it a snap though, it is my new favorite ruler!


Once this quilt was all finished, I congratulated myself on killing like 3 or 4 birds with one stone...I used the little squares, tried out the fusible powder, tested my new ruler, used a good excuse to buy more fabric...oh yeah and made a baby quilt that really needed to be done. That's like 5 birds with one stone! Yay! This quilt is going to be gifted to one of the six people I know who are pregnant with baby girls right now! Fun, fun! 

Now, as always, check out all the amazing quilts at the Blogger's Quilt Festival! 

Amy's Creative Side