It’s really important when you are making a quilt for a baby that you keep the wadding inside light so that the baby does not over heat. I personally like to use a 80% cotton, 20% polyester wadding such as Hobbs Heirloom. I sometimes pre-wash the wadding by hand but this can be a bit awkward especially in the winter as it takes an age to dry. If you don’t pre-wash your wadding then you do get a nice slightly wrinkly vintage look when the quilt is first washed. It’s a choice based on time and the look you want to achieve. I also think its important that the baby quilt is fully machine washable if you want the baby to get the most amount of use and love from it. 
Finishing the quilt with a the right colour binding makes all the difference, it can really make the colours on what would be an otherwise bland quilt pop out! I love this Peter Rabbit quilt (above) with the red binding it brightens the greys and makes it look modern. If you sew the binding onto the front of the quilt and mitre the corners when you turn it over it is easy to hand sew the binding to the back. 
The last touch to a quilt is the label so that when it does become an heirloom the quilter can be recognised. I like my labels to be hand embroidered.
Even though I have been trying to make a quilt for my own son for nearly 5 years, I cannot stop making baby quilts for those I care about. I rarely start with a pattern or a plan but create as I go adding different fabrics and growing it until I am happy with the size. This sometimes back fires when I end up having to cut some very odd sized pieces to make a border fit, but oh well it keeps the brain ticking. Who said GCSE maths was a waste of time!
Here are a few of the baby quilts I have made over the years:
Gin and Sewda 