You know what brings me joy? Creating baby texture quilts. There's something magical about imagining tiny fingers exploring different fabrics, discovering the world through touch.

And seeing these quilts years later, worn with love? Creating something that becomes part of someone's life journey makes every stitch worth it.

Texture Baby Quilt Journey

My first step in making a texture quilt is to stop by Joann's to search for fun fancy fabrics. This time, although my local store was still open, there was a one yard minimum for each fabric. Given that these fabrics are pretty pricey, I headed right back home and tore through my stash.

Although I was limiting myself to pink, I still found enough minky, terrycloth, velour and satin to add some fun for those tiny baby fingers. Plus lots of ribbons!

I backed the satin with some flannel, but the others I just fiddled with.

It was pretty challenging with all those stretchy and slippery fabrics but recognizing that at the start let me just settle on a random wiggle stitch for longarming so I could relax and enjoy the process.

I don't think baby will be judging me ;)

Since I haven't found a replacement source of small amounts of specialty fabrics, the heart in the center was my little experiment of creating texture without specialty fabrics.

I had never made chenille, but knew it involved channels, so I just winged it. After I finished I went researching and discovered that chenille is usually cut on the bias. Since the projects popping around in my head aren't really bias friendly, I did a little experiment and found out for myself why chenille is created on the bias.

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I should have known better! :)

My other projects are now on hold in my head until I resolve how to make the chenille as part of a quilt but not lose structural integrity in the piecing seams.

Making tiny square in a square blocks

A reader emailed me a question about making tiny square in a square blocks recently. Her blocks were planned at 1" finished. Those are tiny squares!

If you aren't familiar with square in a square blocks - this video by Teresa DownUnder is a good one about the different methods.

I made a couple myself just to test my answer before I gave her advice.

Although there is a way to cut triangles to attach to the sides of a square, with blocks so tiny the math gets complicated.

My advice was to either paper piece...

or to sew squares on the corners and trim...

You can see that the paper pieced one is slightly more accurate and stable. I'm still not a fan of paper piecing because all the paper and flipping irritates me, but if you want a template to use to make 1" square in a square blocks, you can download this:

​One inch Square in a Square.pdf​

Make sure you measure that 1" square in the center after you print to make sure your printer didn't scale it.

What question do you have for me?

What's up next

My studio time will be limited until May due to travel, but when I return, I'll be creating a video and cheat sheet about choosing a sewing machine.

Instead of comparing machines, I'll explain what each feature does and why it's important, or not, depending on what you plan to create.

Maybe you'll even discover what that thing is on your machine that you've never used!

Understanding makes better decisions and happier sewing :)

P.S. What textures have you incorporated into baby quilts? I'd love to hear what brought joy to your creating process...

Courses for quilters

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