Submitted by Pirate.
This past October 2008, I finished 4 baby quilts that are intended for a local charity, Bay Area Crisis Nursery (Walnut Creek, CA, USA). These quilts serve more than a dual purpose .. in this case .. triple duty.
1. Since I've returned to using my Tin Lizzie to quilt, I've needed something *to* quilt. I've been reluctant to use my 'good' tops for practice, not only cuz I have an emotional investment in these tops (for whatever reason, and don't want to make 'practice' mistakes on them) but also their size is overly large for practice. Baby sized quilts are a perfect solution.
2. On my local Freecycle, I scored a messload of quilting fabrics. 99.9% were motifs that I had no personal interest in but were still good, quality fabric. Baby sized quilts using these (literally) free fabrics is the perfect use for them.
3. I've been thinking for some time now about 'doing a good deed' and making charity quilts gives me a good feeling about using my skill for someone in need. I can do this on my schedule without the pressure of doing something on a regular basis ... when I have some to give, I will.
For 3 of these quilts, I used Anita Grossman Solomon's 'Super-Sized Nine Patch' (SSNP) quilt directions. I gotta admit, her idea for mass producing these quilts is sheer genius. (Anita .. you are Da Bomb!) She calls for 3 different fabrics, 1 yard each, to produce 3 baby quilt tops, all different yet coordinated. I used 1-1/4 yards for each backing, with 1/4 yard of that to make continuous bias for the binding (Anita calls for the birthing technique to finish the quilts but I don't care for that myself.) This Super-Sized Nine-Patch technique is absolutely slicker than cow slobber! :-) You can get her directions here.
I've mentally identified the SSNP quilts by the color of the center panel. So that I don't take up inordinate amount of blog space, I'll upload the 4 quilts on separate days. The first SSNP is the Yellow Center. I used the 'Chantilly Lace' pantograph by Cranberry Quiltworks and did edge to edge quilting with ecru tone-on-tone variegated King Tut thread. I chose this pantograph because it was all loops, hence *should be* simple. The first row was a little shakey but by the end of the quilt, I was quite pleased with it. You can read about all of them and see more pictures on my webpage.