Four (very short) years ago, the
shower for my baby girl was held. I remember trying to figure out
exactly what craft to do at the shower. I absolutely wanted something crafty,
but I also wanted a valued keepsake for my daughter to treasure. ZERO offense
to all the crafty onesie baby showers that occur…. and ZERO offense to those
that attend those showers and create the ugliest onesie known to man… creating
onesies are fun, but I don’t think they make a valued keepsake.
My stepmom – the Martha Stewart
of our family – came up with a fantastic idea! My baby shower guests would each
design a quilt block with a quote and a flower. To help keep quality assurance,
flower “parts” and quilt squares were prepared ahead of time. All the guests had to do was design
their flower using the flower parts – iron the flower in place and then write
their quote using fine-tipped fabric markers.
The results were creative and
beautiful!!
Baby Shower Quilted Keepsake
Colorful Fabric for Flowers
Muslin
Heat n' Bond
Freezer Paper
Flower Templates (Google Pictures of
Flowers)
Iron
Fine-Tipped Fabric Markers
Fantastic Quilter!
Step 1: Find the fabrics to
create your flowers. Fat-quarters or the fabric sample packs in the quilting
section work fabulously for this project.
Step 2: If you aren’t using the
sample pack of fabrics, then cut your fabric into squares – around 6” x 6”
would work well. Remember, you are
going to cut designs out of this fabric – the square is just to get it to a
manageable size.
Step 3: Iron on the Heat n' Bond.
Step 4: Using muslin, cut out
lots of 12” x 12” squares.
Step 5: Iron on freezer paper to
the back of the squares. This just
makes them more manageable for the baby shower guests and for storage / mailing
purposes.
Step 4: Using pictures of flowers
as a template (Google: Flower Templates), cut out petals, flowers, leaves and
stems. Make sure they will fit on a 12” x 12” quilt square!!
Now you are ready to have your
baby shower guests create quilt squares!!!
Step 1: Have each guest create a
flower on a square – have them leave about ¼ inch on all sides of the design.
Once they are happy with their flower, iron it to the square.
Step 2: After flower is securely
ironed on the square. Each guest should write their quote and sign their name.
Step 3: Magic happens! Okay, not really – it is more like
“stepmom magic quilting” happens.
If you are a quilter, then fantastic – sew together and quilt away. If not, find yourself a fantastic
quilter to finish the project for you.
The finished project is a quilt filled with quotes for my daughter. It was designed and handcrafted by her grandmothers and mother as well as many other women in her life. A true keepsake that I hope she values for many years.
