Antidote! A baby strippy quilt to make and a quilt-a-long.

The antidote to a large unpieced quilt that is very wobbly and difficult to work out how to square up, is, of course, a small pieced quilt that will lay flat, do what it's told and come up neat!  So once I'd blocked the flower garden quilt (I only needed to re-arrange the living room for 24 hours and crawl about with water sprayer and pins for a short time) I started this little baby quilt.  I've made full width strippy quilts before, but thought that this one, with just half-width strips would be a quick and easy make.

Want to make one too? Have you got an hour to spare?  if so you should be able to finish the machine sewing on this!

Baby Strippy Quilt

Cut four strips 3 1/2" x 20 1/2" from a novelty fabric.
Cut five strips 2 1/2" x 20 1/2" from a companion fabric (I like contrast, you might something less bold like a matching solid).

Sew them in alternate strips, and press towards the darker fabric.

Cut batting and backing approximately 24" x 22".  Baste (I spray baste) and quilt - I tend to use a fairly loose stipple so that the quilt stays drapeable.

Finally, cut approx 90" of binding and use to finish the quilt.  Adding the binding takes me as long as all the other steps put together, as I like to hand sew the reverse of the binding.  If you'd like a faster finish, then you can bag out (or 'birth') your quilt before the quilting stage and finish with top stitching instead.

A good result for an otherwise idle hour, and a great antidote to more troublesome quilts!

I'm going to sign up for this 'quilt-along' too  - called the Super Nova Quilt-Along on Freshly Pieced - I like the design, and feeling short of brain power, like the idea of piecing where someone else makes the decisions.  Are you going to join in too?

I think that I'll probably use these FQ's (thank you Nicky!) and this background picked up in a sale last year.