This quilt for toddlers and babies was inspired by three beautiful, sawtooth orphaned blocks from a previous project. The blues reminded me of a dreamy night sky, which inspired the feature of a gentle moon and quirky stars. A mini quilt has no standard size. It is larger than a baby quilt and can be used as a blanket, or as decoration. The beauty (and fun) of this project shines in the stitching which ties your mismatch orphan blocks into something that doesn’t look like anything like a “scrap” project.
Between chunky hand stitching and appliqué, this quilt boasts a lot of texture with a super simple design at three by four large simple blocks. The design comes together quickly even if you are a beginner quilter. There are options for multi-color and limited color flurishes you can base on your orphan blocks.
What’s an orphan block? An orphan block is pieced block that was either discarded or otherwise doesn’t have quilt to go with it. Sometimes sewers may have a few orphan blocks that go together.
Below is a basic layout of the quilt, with the orphan blocks circled.
Cutting the Quilt Pieces & Choosing Colors:
I recommend trying to dig up scraps of the same fabrics from the orphan blocks. Also pick out coordinating colors that revitalize these orphan blocks. Don’t be afraid of using a lot of white or another main color to set your color scheme. This quilt uses an analogous color scheme. There’s blue-violet, blue, blue-green, yellow-green and white. These colors are all next to eachother on the color wheel and have a gradient effect depending how they are arranged.
Final size of quilt: 48″x36″
(3) Orphan Blocks | any finished size of block 12.25
The Star and Moon Baby Quilt orphan blocks are 12.5 inch squares. Your orphan blocks can be any design. The other blocks are designed to be simple (basic square an grid) so calculating different sizes to match orphan block is straightforward.
Additional Pieces To Cut:
(4) Matching or mismatched Solid and Print: 12.25″ squares
(64) Mismatch squares: 3.5″ squares (This equals 4×4 = 16 squares per block)
Star and Moon Appliqué
The appliqué dresses up the plain square blocks in the design. For the Moon and Stars appliqué shapes, these printable jpegs will give you the shapes on a standard 8.5 x11 printer paper size. Don’t feel limited to these shapes. Be inspired to alter, cut or draw stars and moon design. Apply the applique to the quilt with your favorite method before assembling the quilt. This images should printed at 100% if following my dimensions. Otherwise the image can be scaled up or down.
In this quilt, I used a special fabric for applique that you can’t buy at the store. This fabric was created using a juki sewing machine, scraps and water-soluble paper and scrap fabric. By creating my own fabric I was able to utlize small scraps with the same colors as the orphan block. A small touch that harmonize the color scheme of the quilt. Visit the link below to make your own one of kind fabric from tiny scraps.
Quilting The Star and Moon Mini Quilt
I set up the quilt in the traditional quilt sandwich manner. When quilting smaller size I find spray baste works wonderfully. This is the first time using Valdani cotton thread and it has become a new favorite. The more handquilting I added to this the sweeter this quilt became. I used two layers of batting in the quilt and you can see that it has a extra puffiness that is perfect for baby or toddler. Consider the color of your threads and keeping contrast in mind.
The first section of stitching is the vertical stripes and horizontal stripe that straddle either side of the pieced squares often called the “ditch.” In the star and moon quilt pictured, the vertical stitched lines are blue and the horizontal lines are stitched in white. Stitching these first makes the quilt sandwich very stable which allows more freedom and stability when quilting more complex shapes. If you are a beginner consider quilting these lines with a sewing machine to make the project simpler.
Quilting Continued
The next area to begin stitching is your orphan blocks. I quilted them as shown on the diagram with blue cotton thread. While your blocks are likely not the same as mine stitch with a star theme in mind.
Quilting around Applique
This graphic below shows the stitching around the applique.
Finishing the Star and Moon Mini Quilt
To bind this quilt I used a method that I often use for puff quilts. To read more on this specific technique in the link below. Any binding technique will do for finishing this one off choose your favorite or try something new.
Whether you’re an experienced quilter or just starting out, this project is both approachable and rewarding. Beginners will find the simple shapes and clear instructions a great way to build confidence, while advanced sewers can enjoy adding personal touches through hand quilting, creative fabric and color selection.
The Star and Moon design is modern take a classic theme for bedtime. With cotton chunky handstitching covering the quilt in celestial motifs, this quilt is ultra cuddly and soothing for sleepy time. Embrace the playful style and create something special for the little star in your life.