The BackSeat BabyArt is a unique gift that I made for the first time for our 7th grandchild, born in January 2000.

Place the 18" x 9" piece of quilt batting down on flat surface.  Place the 16½" x 8" piece of "pretty flannel" right side up on quilt batting.  Place the 16-1/2" x 8" solid color flannel, wrong side up on "pretty flannel".  Put a few pins, here and there, to hold the 3 layers together.

All corners will be rounded.  You could draw a "roundness" to all corners with a pencil before sewing, but why bother?  Just round them as you sew.

Using a walking foot on your sewing machine, sew all layers together, using a 1/4" seam allowance. Sew all around the perimeter of the burp pad, rounding the corners as you come to them.  Be sure to leave an opening of about 3" for turning.  Backstitch at beginning and end of sewing.

On my sewing machine, I have the edge of my walking foot at the edge of the fabric, then position my needle to be sewing ¼" away from the edge of fabric and 1/4" away from pencil-drawn neck edge.

After sewing all around, trim away the excess, leaving 1/4" seam allowance.
Turn right side out.
Push out all rounded corners.

Working with, and manipulating with your fingers, go all around the perimeter of the burp pad and pin it into place so that the seamline lies on the edge of the burp pad.  I don't even bother sewing the opening closed.  I start topstitching right close to the edge where the opening is and when those 3" are sewn closed, I then walk my needle over to be about 1/4" from edge and topstitch all around.  I make a second row of topstitching 1/4" away from the first row of topstitching. 

The pretty flannel goes on your shoulder. The solid flannel touches the baby's face. Solid flannel is usually softer than pretty printed flannel against a baby's face. And the pretty flannel will cling to your shoulder...most of the time!

Knit receiving blankets
Knit fabric generally comes 60+" wide.  So, I buy 1 yard, to allow for shrinkage, cuz believe me, 100% cotton knit fabric does shrink.  Pre-wash and dryer-dry your yardage before cutting.  Trim off the selvedges.  Cut fabric in half. You will get 2 pieces that are about 30" x 30".  You could square up the fabric pieces, or you can just leave them as is.  You will want rounded corners on the receiving blanket.  I use a plate as a guide to mark the rounded corners, before serging.  I use a white quilting pencil to mark corners and then serge on the mark.

I serge all around the knit blanket, using 3 threads in serger and normal serge stitch (not rolled edge).  You can use threads that match the knit fabric or use contrasting threads.  That gives a real nice edge, but I have found that if I then take that serged edge and zig-zag on top of it, I get a lacey-look to the edge.

Scan of "lacey edge" Knit edge -- serged ZigZag over top of serging-- ZZ width 4.0 ZZ length 2.5 using NewHome 8000 Zig into the fabric Zag off of the fabric

Or sew lace to the fabric Scan of edge with lace yardage applied to flannel Flannel edge -- serged Place lace on top of edge, having lace about ¼" in from edge. Triple ZigZag stitch lace to flannel ZZ width 3.0 ZZ length 3 using NewHome 8000 Zig off of lace Zag into lace

Or bind the edge Scan of binding applied to sweatshirt fabric Cut bias binding 2¼" wide Press binding through 1" bias tape maker Press in half Slip edge of sweatshirt fabric into binding ZigZag bias binding to sweatshirt fabric ZZ width 1.5 ZZ length 2.5 using NewHome 8000 Zig into sweatshirt fabric Zag into binding

100% cotton knit fabrics are so very comfortable-feeling.  They come in so many wonderful colors. Brian looked like a jewel in all his jewel-toned colors of royal blue and teal receiving blankets!  And when he was layered with many blankets, he looked just like a flower!  A very bright flower, at that!

Sometimes, I wish I lived in the northern climates, so that I could make receiving blankets out of that wonderful Polar Fleece.  I would hand-stitch a blanket stitch around the blanket, using a crochet thread.  But, those moments are fleeting, cuz I have lived in Wisconsin and I really don't like the winters there!

They say the first colors that a baby can see are black, white and red.  
I threw in a touch of yellow to brighten it up.

BackSeat BabyArt   EQusers: If you would like a project file of this quilt, email anotherpat@aol.com request: babyart.PJ5 19" x 19" approx. (finished) Squares - 2" Hearts - 4" Pinwheels - 4" Red border - 1/2" Black border - 1-1/2" ------- Note -- I used a floral fabric with black background for the black border.  You could substitute any other 4" blocks for the heart & pinwheel blocks.

Fabric needed: no allowances made for re-cuts or mistakes.
Preshrink fabric before cutting.
Black - 8-1/4" x 20"
Red - 15-1/2" x 8"
White - 8-1/4" x 20"
Yellow - 5" x 5"
Backing -- 19-1/2" x 19-1/2" either cotton or flannel (flannel will cling to car's fabric-upholstered seat back)

Did not use quilt batting in this quilt.

All seams 1/4", unless otherwise noted.

Cut

Cut

Yields

Sew

Sew

Red
4 squares@ 2-7/8"

Cut squares diagonally

8
Half-Square Triangles

White
2 squares @ 3-1/4"

Cut squares
diagonally, twice

8
Quarter-Square Triangles

Black
2 squares @ 3-1/4"

Cut squares
diagonally, twice

8
Quarter-Square Triangles

Need 8
Pinwheel units

Take
4 Pinwheel units

Rotate Pinwheel units.
Sew them together...
to make a Pinwheel block.

  
Need 2 Pinwheel blocks.

Cut

2-1/2" squares

Black
17 squares

Yellow
4 squares

Sew

need 4
black/yellow units

Sew

pinwheel>black/yellow>heart

Sew

blk>yell>blk>yell>blk

Sew

heart>black/yellow>pinwheel

blk>wh>blk>wh>blk>wh>blk
need 2 sides

Center

Cut two RED strips, 1" wide x 14-1/2" and sew to top & bottom of Center.

Cut two RED strips, 1" wide x  15-1/2" and sew to sides of Center.

Cut two BLACK strips, 2" wide x 15-1/2" and sew to top & bottom.

Cut two BLACK strips, 2" wide x 19-1/2" and sew to sides.

I did not use any quilt batting in this quilt.

You can bind this little quilt or sew the quilt face to the backing, using the "envelope method" which is placing the quilt face and backing, right sides together and sew around the perimeter of quilt, leaving an opening in the perimeter, for turning.

After turning the quilt right side out, make sure all corners are poked out.  Sew opening closed. Working fingers at edge, manipulate edge so that backing does not show to front, at edges of quilt. Using straight pins, pin around perimeter, about 1-1/2" apart, while manipulating edges.  Sew around perimeter, about 1/2" from edge. 

Pin quilt, through all layers, here and there, to hold layers together.  Stitch-in-the-ditch around the 4" blocks and around borders.

Lay the BackSeat BabyArt over car's back seat.

Does Brian like his BackSeat BabyArt?  Well, he looks at it.  His eyes wander all over the "art", but not for long, cuz he usually dozes off in the car, after a couple of blocks' drive!