Life Cycles Quilt

this quilt is for my niece aliyah... who was born less than a week ago!

my mom often refers to big events as "life cycle" moments

& since making quilts for big moments like this is a favorite thing of mine... i knew i wanted to make a new quilt as soon as i found out that i had a niece on the way!

this quilt would be great for births... weddings... anniversaries... or even holidays like mother's day!

come check out my blog to see the original quilt i made for my nephew that inspired this quilt!

1 Jelly Roll Basics in Milk
1 Make Life Honey Bun
1/4 yd Bias Cut Binding - Make Life Fun - Ocean 5425 23
Scrap or FQ - { I used  Earth Texture SKU# 5427-15 }
Scrap or FQ -  { I used Grass Shine SKU# 5424-21 }
1 1/8 yard backing
Scrap of fusible web


Note:
HB = Honey Bun
JR = Jelly Roll

1. Open HB.  Start with any colored strips that are in the HB twice.  If you are using make life you'll have 5.
Sew them as shown below on the right
HB strip - JR strip - HB strip
These will yield 9 blocks each

2. Take the rest of the colored HB strips and cut them in half.
Sew them as shown below on the left
HB strip - JR strip - HB strip
{ you can cut the JR strips in half... I just did it as shown below to save on cutting time }
These will yield 4 blocks of each color

3. Sub-cut strips into 4.5" blocks.  As noted above the full strips will yield 9 blocks and the half strips will yield 4 blocks.

4.  I used all of the strips in the HB that were colored and got about 97 blocks... which is enough for 2 quilts.

5. You'll need 46 blocks for one quilt.  I made more anticipating that people would make mistakes in signing them!  I had people start to sign them before the quilt was made.  Most people wanted to sign them horizontal, so I had to make it a point to ask some people to sign them vertical.  {thanks mom for all your help organizing this part!}

6. The next step is making the center block.
Print this PDF file and trace the letters needed onto fusible web.  Iron them onto the grey fabric & cut them out.

7.  Cut your background for the name at 12.5" x 4.5"
If your name is longer or shorter, you can have it take up more than 3 blocks of space or make the letters smaller or larger.  Iron the letters in place.  I sewed mine down with a machine blanket stitch to finish them.

8.  Lay out your blocks.
Sew blocks into rows.  Press towards the colored part of the blocks.
Sew rows together.

9. Add Border #1
Border #1 is made from 4 HB strips.  Add 2 to sides and then top & bottom.  I used the white strips with small stars.

10. Add Border #2

Border #2 is made from 4 JR strips.  Add 2 to sides and then top & bottom.  

11. Layer...Quilt...and Bind.
I quilted in the ditch to avoid the signatures & messages.

I also cut my binding on the bias to get this effect.  Binding instructions can be found here.

Lastly I added a sleeve to the back so that this can hang on the wall.


34" x 34" Quilt

happy mother's day!

all three generations!

just hours after aliyah was born!!

Enjoy!
by Julie of jaybirdquilts!