Snuggling down with a Quibble™......Part 1

It's summer and here I am preparing to tell you how I made a fleece and flannel baby "quilt"!! Who wants to be warm when it's hot outside???!!!!! Ah, but there is air-conditioning so it's cold inside and sometimes one needs to "snuggle down" or............ if you live in parts of the world where it's not summer right now, well, it's the right time to make something to keep you or baby warm!!

Inspiration for this project came about in the winter of 2008 because I needed to be warmer when I was in my sewing room. There was a time when we had an insulation issue and before they figured that out and fixed it, I was often mighty cold in my sewing room. I belonged to a Yahoo quilting group that was having a challenge project and I decided I would use up some scraps of flannel that I liked and a piece of soft ivory colored fleece.........all of it was just remants bought at JoAnn's. I love making things with remnants. It'a challenge to me. :-) The picture on the right is the end result of that challenge. I cut rectangles 7-1/2" x 9-1/2" and just randomly pieced the rows, sewed them together, backed it with fleece, added a fleece binding and "blind-tied" the blocks at each corner. I made up the term "blind-tie" to describe my method of "tieing". I'll show you that in the final post on this project.

I enjoyed making the "quilt" so much and was so glad to finish a project that I named it my "Touchdown Quilt". And that's not because I used it when watching football........no, it's because I scored a sewing touchdown because I finished it. Hee hee!!

Sooooooooooooo, I needed a couple of "quilts" for two little fundraisers. One was for the Quilt Show held at the Lehigh Public Library (Iowa) and the other was for a Kid's Carnival event sponsored by the Scott County Historical Society (Minnesota). I got out all the remnants of baby/kid print flannels that I had in my stash and I cut lots of rectangles (same as above). The first "quilt top" (on the left) was the smallest and was for the Library Quilt Show. That's my daughter, Collette, doing the yarn ties on the quilt after we had set up for the quilt show. I had bound it first and had pinned it where I wanted the ties but didn't have time to get it tied before heading home for the quilt show. I knew Collette could help me out. The finished "quilt" was placed on the kiddie table and we raised only about $15 but it all went to the library. And I loved it when the winning name was drawn and it was my mom and dad's best friends, Dick and Pat Trueblood. And how perfect because they had a brand new baby granddaughter that they could send the quilt to!!

When I got home I jumped right in and stitched together two more "quilt tops" for the SCHS event. I made these larger as they were to be kid's lap quilts, one in pink for a girl, one in blue for a boy.

Here you can see the finished tops that have been placed on the fleece backing. I then used safety pins and pinned at the intersection of each block. I folded over the edge of the fleece backing to create the binding. I folded the corners in mitered fashion so that they looked neat and tidy. I machine stitched around this edge but added a few handstitches at the corners so that they were nice and secure.

Here are the two finished "quilts". Fewer kids and families attended the event than hoped, so only "quilt" was raffled and the other one will be given at another time.

As I was stitching these two quilts I gave them the name of "Cuddle Doon Quilts" because they were meant to be a quilt that a kid could curl up with and read a good book or be read to by mom and dad, etc. I love the poem "Cuddle Doon" and if you go here -

Cuddle*Doon*Bairnies - you will find it and perhaps enjoy it, too.

Now it's time to tell you how I made this most recent flannel/fleece "quilt" and also why I named it a Quibble™. You see, I think you all know that most folks wouldn't call these flannel/fleece projects "quilts" because they are "tied" and they don't have any batting. On the other hand, to a child or even an adult who is looking to "snuggle down", well, it's their "quilt" because Grandma or mom says so!! And so, I thought, please don't "quibble" with me over whether this is a "quilt" or a blanket or a "throw", because I think maybe the word "quilt" should mean "item made with love to keep you warm-can be hand or machine quilted, tied, etc. - glue is not recommended as item will need to be laundered frequently due to constant use!" And that's my story and I'm sticking to it! LOL!!

Here's how I made the Quibble™ for Pastor Brigit's little baby boy..........If you want to make one, too, gather up a bunch of flannel scraps and a coordinating color of fleece (1-1/2 yards) for the backing.

For this flannel/fleece project, I tried to "think outside the box" and I'm not sure I did so well. I had some coordinated flannels in a "little boys, snips, snails, puppy dog tails" prints and some solids that I cut into 5-1/2" wide strips. I cut most into 7-1/2" lengths but had odds and ends left so decided to sew random pieces together. I see other quilters/bloggers doing this and it looks great. Notice I said it looks great when others do it........

I like things to be neat and symetrical. This "random thing" was difficult for me. I persevered and laid the pieces out in random order, and sewed a strip together (the one the right). I wasn't sure I was liking this so I kept moving things around. However, the more I moved things the worse it got, so I finally gave up and pinned the pieces as you see above.

In the photo above all the pieces have been sewn into long rows. I zig-zagged every seam for added strength for this project.

And in this photo all the rows have been sewn together and placed on the fleece backing (I bought 1-1/2 yards fleece and had plenty for this project). Next, I cut two fleece strips that were 3-1/2" wide and the length of my strips (this will vary for your own project).

I sewed the side strips in place as you see above..........and in the photo below you can see that I have pinned the lower strip for stitching.

When the top and bottom strips are sewn in place, you will have a quilt top that looks like this..........

That's all for Part 1. I have photos loaded for Part 2 and will post that Tuesday evening. I will post Part 3 on Wednesday evening. Have a good day!

Sandi

Note: Thank goodness for good blogging friends.........Pat caught the fact that I said I'd begin posting blocks for "Grace and a Prayer" (based on Emma's Hope quilt) on Wednesday, June 18th. Make that Thursday, June 18th!!! I should put a calendar by my computer.