Memory Quilt: Part I

As part of my 'get organized and de-clutter my life' kick I decided I wanted to make a Memory Quilt with the kids baby clothes.  I saved a ton with Emma knowing I was going to have another, I wanted to keep them to pass down. Eli quickly convinced us we were done having kids. So I didn't keep quite as much but it was still hard to part with my favorites. I first heard about this back in Delta Zeta, a lot of the girls had it done with their tees. I started looking on pinterest for some inspirations.
This first is actually a memory game but somebody had pinned it as a quilt idea and I like the random blank square.

The Purl Bee

 This one is made of vintage sheets. I thought it may be easiest but wasn't sure how it would look.

SparklePower on Etsy

 This next one pretty much convinced me, I couldn't just push the project to the 'one day' list.

Diary of Regular Moms

 Although I love the previous, I prefer a simpler design and wanted it to be something that maybe the kids would want to use a little longer and didn't feel to young.

Wee Wonderfuls

So I got motivated and started cutting.  Let me throw out this disclaimer. I am by no means a professional quilter. This is actually my very first. If you're interested in this project I just hope to give you some ideas and any tips I come up with. Its kind of a trial and error for me but I hope by the time I get to Emmas, I may be able to write a more clear how to. Also, for me, this is a messy project. It takes up the whole room and there is just clothes fabric in piles everywhere.

In the quilt I chose to model mine after, she used 4x4 squares. I chose to cut 5x5 for a little seam room and to give me a little bigger space for some of the things I wanted to show. I carefully measured a cardboard to trace. Then with a sharpie went and traced a square onto everything I knew I wanted to use.

Be creative. Above, the tractor under the cardboard couldn't be  used to take up two full 5x5 sections, so I cut some off the sleeve of that shirt to add to it. Here are some more cuts. Top Left was Eli's 1st Easter. Top right was a gift from a friend when he arrived ( i tried to use most of his monogrammed things, burp cloths could be used as well.) Bottom left, my mom got him that cute little button up and I liked the pocket with the bear and the button holes. Bottom right, I bought that for him, Daddy's Favorite Band.

Be sure to set aside all the leftovers. You may have to come back and cut a few more squares if you weren't keeping count (you will need 96 to make it as big as the inspiration's, plus one for the middle.) This is where the mess comes in.

I know, embarassing, Right!

Also, I plan on using the leftovers that can be salvaged for paci clips. I want to make my kids a little stuffed animal for Valentines day too. (I'm torn between the little Doxin like our new Abby or the rice owl.) The tree pillow is another great idea.

Friends of Socktopus

Just Another Hang Up

Cluck Cluck Sew

All so cute, I just need to decide quick and get rid of the rest!
Ok, so then I laid it out. Center, then 5x5 (squares), then 9x9, then 13x13 (the white in betweem is 3x3, 7x7, 11x11.)

TIP: Do not do what I did, and cut a random center size. Make it square. 
I just really wanted to use the little drop seat PJ's with his name on it.

Next I picked what I wanted to use for my solid color (you'll have to wait for the big reveal to see what I went with.

Here's a link how I did the middle from How To Quilt It took me a couple tries so you may want to practice on something else. I had to rip my seams a couple times. Ha!
Then I started sewing the pieces together. I chose to line up at the very edge since I had button holes, snaps and other things I wanted showing. That way my need would miss some of those things.

Sewed right up next to the snap

Once everything was sewed I  started piecing it together. This is where my lack of experience comes in.  I will have the rest up on Memory Quilt: Part II