Easy Baby Quilts for Hands 2 Help

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  Hello, Hands 2 Helpers!

It is such a good idea to have us share easy patterns for Hands 2 Help.  (Thanks, Mari!)  Through the year, I make lots of quilts to donate to babies and children, so I'm sharing some of them here.  I'm looking forward to seeing what other people post, especially for larger quilts for grown ups.  I definitely need some help in that direction!

First up, classic 4 patch!  What could be easier?  I started making these many years ago to donate to Quilts 4 Kids.  They have several free and easy patterns, click HERE to go to their pattern page.

 

I have used their 4 patch pattern many times, and highly recommend it.  You need a fun print for the plain squares and the outer border, so I start with that.  You need about a yard, although you can get away with less if you use a different fabric for the outer border.  Next I pull fabric that goes with the fun print for the 4 patches.  

Usually, I use just two fabrics for the 4 patches, but these 4 patches came to me in a silent auction, and it all works out.  It's a great pattern for beginners, or anytime you need a quick quilt.  (I love it because I get to use my novelty prints!)

Next is my own pattern (free, of course), which I'm calling Little Bricks.  Click HERE for the link.  (Can you believe there was snow on the ground two weeks ago?  Oh, yeah, for sure, it's Wisconsin.)

The little bricks are 2.5 in. x 3.5 in. rectangles, and the blocks measure 6 in. finished.  No seams to match in the block makes them work up very quickly.

I'm really on a kick of using little bricks!  This top will be quilted soon, but I thought I'd include it, as it is a very easy quilt to make.  I'm calling it Little Bricks and Ladders.  I don't think I've seen this exact quilt anywhere else, but if this is someone else's pattern please let me know.

Here's the recipe:

For each block, cut 3 little bricks (2.5 in. x 3.5 in.) and two background rectangles 2 x 6.5 in.

Sew the little bricks together on their long edges.

Add the background rectangles to each side of the assembled bricks.

Make 30 blocks.  Alternate their orientation across the quilt, and set the blocks 5 x 6.

Cut borders 3.5 in. wide.

You will need 90 little bricks, cut from scraps, and about 3/4 of a yard of background fabric, depending on the width.  The border uses about 1/2 yard.  (My fabric measurements are slightly more than needed.)

Finished size:  36 in. x 42 in.

I love making quilts of all kinds, even the tougher patterns, but the easier ones let me get more done to donate to others.  Plus they're fun!

Let's have fun making quilts!

Cheers,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with Mari, the Academic Quilter

 

What the Four Patch is Going On Here?

So I finished these two baby quilts this week.

This one has a cute owl print for the main fabric.

These are two more of the "baby shower table cover quilts".
The second one has an adorable whale print.

Notice anything?  Of course you do!  Both quilts were made with exactly the same pattern.  I was in a hurry to use up these fabrics, so I cut myself a kit of each one, based on the Quilts for Kids patterns.  These quilts are going to Quilts for Kids to cheer up little ones in hospitals.  (To find out more about Quilts for Kids, click here .)
I can't even remember how many 4 patch quilts I've made for Quilts for Kids, starting from a kit they sent me years ago.  So I wasn't worried about repeating myself.  After all, charity quilts are meant to be made quickly.  I'm not doing art here.
But here's a top I finished last weekend:

The first blocks of this quilt were made from 4 patches I found in a bag in the closet, where I had stashed them a few years ago.  They didn't necessarily match, but that was okay.

 I put four 4-patches together.  When I used up the blocks from the closet, I made more from my box of bright colored 2.5 in. squares.

It was fun mixing and matching them.  These new blocks were mostly just 2 fabrics, light and dark.

Some of the fabrics have special meaning.  The sail boat fabric here was left over from the quilt I made for my first grandson nearly 11 years ago.  There are scraps in here of fabrics from several quilts I have made for all four of my grandchildren.

I'm keeping this quilt at my house, for sleep overs.

It occurred to me to worry a little when I found myself sewing so many 4 patches.  I've been quilting for 40 years.  I know and love lots of other patterns.  What the four patch is going on here?

There is a lot to be said for the 4 patch.  It is probably the simplest quilt block anyone could make.  There are only 4 pieces, all exactly the same size, and only 3 seams.  It's got great diagonal movement, depending on how you place the colors.  

 Generations of children have learned to sew quilts by starting with a four patch. The four patches in the quilt above may very well have been made by a mother and daughter back around 1900.  I found them in an antique store and set them into the quilt above.  Some were well sewn by hand, and some had to be reinforced with machine stitching before I could use them.

Double 4 patch is just as easy, with a few more pieces.  And now you can chain fabrics or colors from corner to corner.

I even made this top from pieces I left out of a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt.  (It's not quilted yet, though.)

I don't really know why I'm stuck in Four Patch Land at the moment.  But now that I know where I am (like on a map where it says You Are Here) I can take a look around and find my way to Somewhere Else.

Wonder where that will be?

I'm wishing you great journeys this week, in quilting and otherwise.