Baby blanket - Ho Ho Ho and on We Sew

Welcome to Ho Ho Ho and on We Sew in March! Fiona at Celtic Thistle Stitches hosts a monthly link party to help people get prepared for Christmas and there are always some great ideas and inspiration to be found. If like me you often end up a week before Christmas with a long list of handmade gifts that have not come to fruition, then fear no more. Starting to plan in March might seem odd but how smug will you feel come December! 

I am very excited about my make for this month as it is a first for me in more ways than one. It's a quilt and it's for a baby! I am getting to the age where my friends are settling down and this year one of my oldest friends who I have known since I was 9 is having a baby. This will be the first time that one of my close group of friends from school is pregnant and so I finally have the excuse to make cute baby things!

I had some beautiful rabbit print material (I have a lot of rabbit material!) and I decided that I would like to try to make a patchwork quilt. My mother-in-law is an expert quilt maker and has made all sorts of elaborate quilt patterns, but I decided to play it safe. I used just two materials to create a patchwork design and then did a basic vertical line to secure the materials and to add texture.

Firstly I cut 20cm squares of the constrasting materials and pinned and sewed them together.

I then measured and cut a rectangle of wadding material and backing material the same size as my completed patchwork and pinned these three materials together.

I sewed vertical lines down the length of the quilt at regular intervals to secure and add texture.

For the bias binding I found a turquoise fleece material which is so soft and makes a lovely edge for a baby blanket.

And here is the finished quilt. I think it will work well for a boy or a girl so I have all bases covered for Christmas!

This month for the Ho Ho Ho giveaway we have these beautiful sewing-themed charms from Nicole de Bruin which will be spilt between two winners.

To be in with a chance of winning just link up your Christmas and Holiday makes below. Two lucky winners will be randomly drawn when the link party closes at midnight on March 31st.

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks to these generous sponsors who make the monthly giveaways possible.