"Charm Squares" Baby Quilt

My friends are having babies faster than my sewing machine and I can keep up with, so I've been on the lookout for some quick baby quilt projects. One day I found a blog post from Sew Mama Sew featuring a Charm Squares Baby Quilt. The project looked easy, fast, and like I could make use of my rather large fabric stash.

It was indeed an easy project, and I was able to use some fabric I had, but because I was trying to make something unisex, I had to visit my new, favorite fabric store, Sew Modern. Maybe if I tried a little harder, I could have made do, but I'm not going to lie, this was the perfect excuse to go fabric shopping.

I picked out a Lorax print (the all-green fabric) because my friend, Mrs. G. and I both love to read. And, although blue is traditionally more of a boy color, I went for blue, green, and brown prints. Hopefully the paisley print and the binding's floral print made it a little more feminine.

If you want to make this quilt, you can buy a Charm Pack, and not deal with picking out your own fabric and cutting it down to 5-inches by 5-inches squares. The pattern is this:

Supplies

• 38 squares - 5 inches by 5 inches
• 5/8 yard fabric for sashing (solid works well)
• 3/8 yard fabric for binding
• 1 1/4 yard fabric for batting *you can get away with 1 yard if you are careful*
• One craft-sized package of batting

Directions

• Cut two strips, 5 inches wide from sashing fabric
• Cut four strips, 2.5 inches wide from shashing fabric
• Divide charm squares into a set of 25 (A) and a set of 13 (B). If you are making your own charm pack, first cut your 5-inches by 5-inches squares.
• From the set of 13, cut each of the squares in half. They will measure 2.5 inches by 5 inches
• Sew the charm squares (A) and half squares (B) into five rows, press seams open. Each row will have 5 A-squares and 5 B-squares. Alternate between each row:
• ABABABABAB
• BABABABABA
• Sew the sashing strips to the pieced rows - the 5-inch wide strips should be on the top and bottom. Cut down the sashing strips to be the same length as the pieced strips.
• When the quilt top is finished, baste it to the batting and backing.
• Quilt as desired. *I hand-quilted across the sashing strips, a half-inch between rows. The pieced rows were quilted one-quarter-inch from the seam.*
• Piece and attach binding. *I do mitered binding."