Do you love quick baby quilts? One of our most popular posts of all time on Craft Buds is my Quick Triangles Baby Quilt, and I was inspired by that project to design another free baby quilt pattern that’s great for beginners as well as experienced quilters looking for a weekend project!
The colors of this quilt were inspired by a design seeds color palette my friends picked for their little girl’s nursery. I really loved the citrus and mint colors paired with a soft cream, but you can make this quilt in a variety of colors and it would look beautiful! If you have trouble picking a color palette for your quilt, try choosing two or three colors that work well together and pairing it with a neutral like white or grey. (One of my favorite go-to color combos is yellow, aqua and grey.)
The block we’ll be sewing is called a half snowball quilt block. A full snowball quilt block uses the same technique, but with all four corners getting the triangle. This half snowball tutorial will show you how to make this block, which you can use in all kinds of projects! I hope you enjoy this free quilt pattern.
Finished quilt 36 1/2″ x 42 1/2″
Materials:
– 9 to 12 fat eighths (each makes 3 blocks), fat quarters (each makes 6 blocks) or large scraps of colored fabric in three color groups (like yellow, orange, and mint green)
– 1/2 yard of cream or white fabric for the small diamonds
– 1/3 yard of binding fabric
– Crib size batting
– 1 1/2 yards backing fabric
Cutting:
– Cut 42 squares of colored fabric 6 1/2″ x 6 1/2″
– Cut 84 squares of cream fabric 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″
– Cut 4 strips 2 1/2″ x 44″ (width of fabric) for binding
Directions:
1. Fold each 2 1/2″ square in half diagonally to make a crease, and press with your fingernail. With the right sides of fabric together, place a cream square on two opposite corners of a larger square as pictured. The crease should not touch the corners of the large square.
2. Stitch along the creased lines.
3. Use a rotary cutter and ruler to trim off the outside corners 1/4″ outside of your stitch line.
P.S. I love my OLFA 45mm ergonomic rotary cutter, and Amazon has a great price on a rotary cutter plus replacement blades! (affiliate link)
4. Press the seams toward the center of the colored block.
5. Tip: You can use chain stitching to speed up the process! Add one corner square to each of the colored squares without cutting your thread. Trim, press, and repeat with the opposite corner of each block.
6. Arrange the blocks in 6 columns and 7 rows until you get a color placement you like. I use my portable design board to make this process easier! Tip: Once you get your final arrangement, take a picture with your phone. Nothing fancy! Here’s mine that I took with my feet in the bottom. You’ll want to refer to this while sewing, so the blocks don’t get mixed up.
7. Join the blocks in each row with a 1/4″ seam, making sure the cream triangle seams are aligned.
8. Press the vertical seams of each row in an alternating fashion to make nested seams. To do this, take row one and press all the vertical seams to the right. In row two, press to the left… row three, press to the right… and so on. This will reduce bulk when joining together the rows, allowing the blocks to fit together snugly! I typically press all my seams open, but this type of quilt block, I really think it works better to use the nesting technique.
Once you join the rows, press the long seams between each row OPEN (as pictured above) to avoid too much bulk in the centers.
9. Baste the quilt top, batting and backing and quilt as desired. I chose a wide meandering free-motion quilting pattern, stitching through the diamonds and other seams to reinforce them.
This is a really quick and easy baby quilt pattern that you can whip up over the weekend! Break it up over 4 days if you’d like so you can spend time cutting squares, sewing the blocks, joining the blocks and rows, and quilting the top!
I quilted my project on the Baby Lock Tiara II with Madeira Thread and Quilter’s Dream batting. This was my first time using this brand of batting, and I’d have to say I’m in love! The quilt held up great and did not wrinkle during my photo shoot, and it has a really nice weight to it that I think will withstand many years of baby and toddler love!
I took these photos at our local agricultural park (the same place I photographed my recent Tennessee quilt), and I was giddy that the horses were out. Of course, I was little nervous they would take too much interest in the quilt! Aside from choosing the fabrics, I really think my favorite part of quilting is taking the perfect photo of the finished product, and it helps to have really cute models.
I really hope you give this easy baby quilt pattern a try! If you make something from any of our sewing and quilting tutorials, we’d love for you to leave a comment. Happy quilting!
credit:craftbuds.com
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