"Hello Bear" Baby Quilt Top with Confetti Cottons

I love Confetti Cottons from Riley Blake Designs! They are beautiful solid fabrics that come in every color of the rainbow with multiple shades of each. There are lovely pastel and neutral choices too which is what I wanted for my latest baby quilt pattern. Check out my selection of 7 Confetti Cottons below:

If you've been to this blog before, you know I have a thing for paper piecing and I love to design my own templates and patterns. When I set out to make a baby quilt for our grandson's upcoming first birthday, I knew I would have to feature a bear to compliment the forest theme of his room. He would love it so that was the first thing I drafted. The border frame and flying geese units that radiate away from the feature block were designed later. Here is my finished paper pieced feature block hanging on a rustic fence. The finished size when pieced in the quilt is 10" X 10"

It was only after I paper pieced the 10" bear Block that I decided how to fit it into a quilt pattern. I went back to the drawing board to draft the rest of the blocks. I really enjoy this part of the design process - it's like working on a puzzle. Below is my working concept. It's not perfect at this stage but good enough for me to test my design. Once I confirm that everything works, I go back to clean up the details for the final draft and pattern.

Next up was the cutting - I didn't want to cut into that delicious fabric (I know I'm not the only one) but I finally did it and then pieced all the flying geese. I used the no-waste flying geese method for the first time - I highly recommend that fabric saving technique - and the piecing is so accurate too.

Below is the finished quilt top. I think the aqua frame needs a little more "oomph" so I'm going to use colored stitching when I quilt that part so it stands out a little more. I love the abstract, minimalist style and asymmetric feature block.

Solids are the easiest choices for paper piecing, so don't forget to check out all the options (200+) at Riley Blake Designs - so many beautiful colors! I'm running off now to find batting for my baby quilt. Happy Sewing!