Minky Baby Quilt with Woodland Animals

This is my Woodland Animal Themed baby quilt with a Minky backing.  This quilt features large machine embroidered animals appliqued to the front and back of the quilt and a super soft Minky backing.

This self-binding baby blanket was quick and easy to make with a pattern by Donna Robertson.  

When making this baby quilt, I decided to applique a red fox on the front and a squirrel on the back.  These machine embroidered appliques are optional.  If you have an embroidery machine, they are a really cute addition to the quilt.

WHAT YOU NEED for this Minky baby blanket:

• Booklet - Fast & Fun 3-Yard Quilts by Donna Robertson
• 3 yards Minky Fabric
• 3, 1-yard cuts of 44"/45" fabric for the top
• Batting (optional when using Minky backing) - either flannel or quilt batting
• Sewing Machine Thread in matching colors

Fabrics for this Minky Baby Quilt

The fabrics used for this quilt were purchased from Joann Fabrics and are a woodland animal theme, named "Woodland Animals Doing Things".  Along with the two cotton fabrics from that line, we used a teal flannel and a coral Minky fabric.

Yes, I did mix both cotton and flannel on the quilt top!  I love to do this and there is nothing wrong with mixing the different types of fabrics.  Especially for a baby quilt, I like the softness that the flannel adds to the quilt top.

The quilt top could be made for almost any baby room theme.  Joann Fabrics has so many different nursery-themed fabrics in cute designs.  

Fast & Fun 3-Yard quilts Pattern booklet

This baby blanket was made using a pattern in the book, Fast & Fun 3-yard quilts by Donna Robertson and the pattern "Brick Street".  I recently purchased this book from a quilt shop and thought one of these designs would be perfect for a baby quilt.  Oh, and fast is not just a saying, this quilt was very fast to put together.

Donna Robertson has a whole line of 3-Yard quilt books with many different fast and fun patterns to make.  

This quilt looks complicated, but it’s made from square blocks that are rotated to give it a more complicated look.  The book explains how to make the blocks quickly by strip piecing and then cutting the strips apart to create the individual blocks.

The blocks are then laid out in a rotated pattern to give the quilt top a unique look. 

This quilt also has 3 borders.  The first small border is in the teal fabric.  A second border is using the fabric with the animals.  And the last border is made with the moons fabric.

Each quilt in the book takes three 1-yard cuts of fabric for the quilt top and three yards of fabric for the backing.  The finished quilt sizes vary but are around 45” x 60” which is a nice lap-sized quilt.

The author explains how to make the quilts larger if you want to make a twin, queen, or king.  

baby Quilt size

Since I wanted a baby quilt, I decided to leave off eight blocks.  So, instead of the quilt being 4 blocks wide by 5 blocks high, it’s 3 blocks by 4 blocks.

The same borders were kept around the quilt and the Minky with self-binding also wraps around the front of the baby blanket.

This smaller quilt is a nice size for a baby quilt.

2nd Woodland Animals Quilt

Since I made the first quilt smaller and had eight extra blocks, I decided to make a second quilt.  

The smaller quilt is made up of nine blocks, so I needed one more block.  This extra block was made from the leftover fabric. So the 2^nd quilt is 3 blocks by 3 blocks. 

The smaller quilt uses some of the remaining fabric for the borders and binding.  I put a small teal border on the left and right sides.  Then a small border of the moon's fabric around the entire quilt.  Lastly, there was enough of the animal's fabric to add a border along the top and bottom. 

The 3 yards of Minky provided enough for the backing and self-binding of the second quilt. 

This one doesn’t have the embroidered animals but is also a cute baby quilt.

Animal Appliques

You may be wondering about the large animal appliques.  These were made with my embroidery machine using designs by Kreative Kiwi Embroidery Designs.  

I've used these designs in another project and stitched them onto lunch bags. To find these designs, look for the link to Kreative Kiwi at the end of this page.

These designs were stitched in the hoop separately from the quilt.  The fox is stitched in two hoopings.  The raccoon design requires three hoopings. Kreative Kiwi includes a step-by-step photo tutorial PDF with each of their purchases.  This will lead you through the process of making these cute animal appliques.

Joining the head and body sections of these appliques together is the most complicated part of making them.  We have a tutorial giving tips and showing how to join sections for designs like these.

The animals were sewn onto the front and the back of the quilt by sewing near the edge of the design.  They can be sewn on with a straight or zig-zag stitch.

I am a big fan of Kreative Kiwi and their designs.  If you have an embroidery machine be sure to visit their site to find many fun designs.

Minky Quilt Backing

Instead of using the traditional backing and binding for these quilts, I used a Minky on the back.  The Minky was cut about 6” larger than the quilt all around. 

I centered the quilt top on the Minky and then pin-basted and quilted the layers together.

I decided to not use using a batting layer on these quilts to keep them lighter.  Since the Minky is already a heavy fabric the batting isn’t necessary. 

If you want to use a batting layer, I recommend a layer of flannel in a neutral color like white or cream.  Traditional quilt batting could also be used.

Can you use flannel for quilt batting?

Yes! You can use flannel instead of quilt batting in your quilts.  The quilts made with flannel are thinner and more lightweight. 

The quilts made with flannel will roll up into a smaller size for storage or transport.  The flannel still provides some warmth to the quilt without the extra loft of the batting.

Do I need batting in my quilt?

No! As with most things when quilting, you can decide to leave the batting out of a quilt or to use a non-traditional quilt batting.  

The batting layer is added as an insulation layer.  For quilts made with cotton tops and backing, this layer could be essential to give more warmth when using the quilt. 

If making a summer quilt, you can choose to leave out the batting or maybe use a flannel or another layer of cotton as the batting.  These would make a lighter summer quilt.

When using a non-traditional backing like Minky, which is already heavy and warm, the batting layer is optional.  These quilts would be quite warm without the batting layer.

Quilting the Woodland Animals Quilts

For the quilting on both quilts, a variegated quilting thread was used.  I like using a variegated quilting thread for my quilting.  

For the first quilt, the quilting lines were stitched in the middle of the teal borders throughout the quilt.  Straight lines were stitched through the larger border around the quilt.

The smaller quilt has straight lines vertically through the center of the blocks and horizontal lines across the quilt through the blocks.

Minky Self-Binding Baby blanket

After the quilting was completed, the Minky was trimmed to be 5” larger than the quilt top around the whole quilt.

The corners were sewn and then trimmed so they would become a mitered corner.  After flipping them right side out, they covered the edge of the quilt top.

The Minky covers about ¼” of the quilt top.  A zig-zag over the edge of the Minky around the quilt tacks it down. 

Keep reading for step-by-step instructions for a self-binding tutorial using Minky fabric.

How do you make a Minky self-binding baby blanket with mitered corners?

This is the easiest way I could figure out to make the self-binding mitered corners.

Step 1: Cut Backing, Pin Baste & Quilt

Cut the Minky fabric 6" wider than the quilt top all around. Lay the Minky fabric with the wrong side facing up on a work surface.  Center the quilt top on the Minky fabric.  There should be a 6" overhang on all edges.

Pin baste and quilt the layers together.  

Trim the Minky to be 5" larger than the quilt top all around.

Step 2: Fold the Corners

Fold over the first corner on both sides.  Overlap the fabric over the quilt top by about 1/4".

Place a pin on each side fabric where it overlaps with the other fabric.  See the photo above for pin placement.  Open the corner up.

Step 3: Mark the Line

With a ruler and a fabric marker, mark a line between the two pins.

Step 4: Pin the Corner

Fold the fabric right sides together matching the end of the line on each side. It will be in the shape of a large triangle point.  Pin near the line.

Step 5: Sew the Corner

Sew along the marked line with a straight stitch.

Trim the corner to 1/4" from the seam line.  

The first corner is finished.  When you turn the corner right side out, the fabric will have a mitered corner and it will cover about 1/4" of the quilt top.

Finish the other three corners in the same way.

Step 5: Finish the Self-Binding

Turn all four corners right side out and lay the quilt on a flat work surface.  The backing fabric should naturally cover about 1/4" of the quilt top.

Pin all the way around covering up 1/4" of the quilt top with the backing fabric The photo below shows the overlap.

Zig-zag stitch over the edge of the Minky fabric to attach the backing to the quilt top.  This will finish the self-binding and complete the quilt.

Completed Woodland Animals Quilts

We hope you enjoyed learning about these 3-yard quilts made with a pattern from Donna Robertson's book Fast & Fun 3-Yard Quilts.  I enjoyed making them and giving them as gifts to two Mothers to be.

Scroll down to find the patterns, books and fabrics for these quilts.

Some other baby quilt tutorials you may be interested in are:

• Baby Crib Quilt Tutorial with Feature Fabric
• I Spy Quilt Tutorial
• Pinwheel Quilt - Pinwheel quilts are popular baby quilts.
• School or Team Themed Quillow - A quilt that turns into a pillow!
• Woodland Forest Friends Baby Quilt - This adorable panel quilt is quick and easy to make.