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.

Snuggling down with a Quibble™......Part 2

You have made a quilt top in Part 1 and now it's time to give it a backing. First, though, double-click on the photo below and look at the seams......all are zig-zagged because this is a child's quilt and it needs to withstand a lot of wear and tear! You will also notice that most of the time I pressed the seams one way or the other and sometimes I goofed and had to sort of press them half one way and half the other. My quilts are not perfect. Nor are my penny rugs or other stitching projects. There is always some mistake I make and then I have to "fudge" a little and most of the time no one knows unless a I tell them. :-) So, just make sure the top is pressed nicely and don't worry too much how it looks on the back. Just make sure your seams are stitched really well.

Take your finished quilt top and place it right side down onto your piece of backing fleece. Position it as shown along one side and corner and after the top is pinned to the fleece, then you can trim away the excess.

In the photo above, I have trimmed all the way around the quilt top and if you look at the bottom edge you will see pins placed horizontally that will remind me not to stitch there as that will be my opening for turning the "quilt" inside out.

Notice in this photo that I am sewing a fairly wide seam - 6/8" to be exact. This is important to have when it is turned inside out. Trust me.

When you have stitched around the edge of the blanket, you will trim the corners as shown above.

Your "quilt" will look like this......stitched all the way around with an opening of about 10" at the bottom of the quilt.

To turn the "quilt" inside-out, reach in and grab a corner and start pulling it. This was a hard step to photograph as one cannot do this and also snap a picture and I couldn't remember how to do the auto thingy on my camera. After the "quilt" has been turned "inside-out", carefully adjust your corners and then hand-stitch the bottom opening closed. Does that make sense?

Lay the "quilt" on the floor and smooth it well, and then pin carefully all the way around the "quilt" edge. You are going to sew around the edge of the "quilt" with a 5/8" inch seam. After you have sewn around the edge, you will pin all around the edge of the blocks and you can "stitch-in-the-ditch" there or about a 1/4" in on the fleece border. Double-click on the photo below for an example of how to stitch the border.

And now you are almost finished, but not quite. We'll get to the final touches in Part 3 tomorrow night. Almost time to snuggle down with my own Quibble™. Well, maybe not. It's only 10:30 p.m. I've got at least three good hours to go!

Sandi

Snuggling down with a Quibble™......Part 3

At the end of Part 2, you have almost finished your "quilt". There are several ways to stitch this "quilt" together. The first would be to do a meandering machine quilt stitch on the "quilt". The second choice might be to "tie" the quilt with yarn or Perle cotton. You can add the ties in the center of the large rectangles or at intersections of the rectangles. When I tie with yarn, I use a soft cotton yarn or poly and my final choice usually has to do with getting the right color match. When I "tie" with Perle cotton, I make my ties only at the intersections of the pieces and I keep the Perle cotton long enough that I can insert the needle into the fabric and bring it up a couple of inches away, so that the thread is hidden in the seam of the flannel. I may have to take some photos for that to make sense.

The third option is to hand-stitch the "quilt". You can do it with regular quilting stitches or you can try the method in the photo above. My friend, Denise, introduced me to "chunky quilting" which is done with Perle cotton. She had done it on a beautiful Log Cabin quilt and I used it on a scrappy quilt I made. I like the look a lot!

Prior to stitching, I just took straight pins and marked out random curvy lines, five of them to be exact. And then I hand-stitched it in less than an hour!

In the photo above, you can see how it looks on the back.

To add a special touch, I added the baby's birthdate to one corner and in the upper corner I stitched his name. You probably can't see it, but I stitched my initials in blue on the small blue print in the lower corner.

And when it was all done, I took the quilt out to my "quilt-line" to take a picture. I loved the bright colors which colors and it just looks like a quilt a little boy can drag from room to room in search of a puppy or a favorite toy or mom and dad and a good book. :-)

So there you have it, you've made a Quibble™. Give this small one away and then make a big one for you. Even us grown-ups need to snuggle down with a good book!!

Sandi

Emma's Quilt Update

I said it would be a couple hours and I'd be back but I called my mom because this would have been my Dad's 83rd birthday and then, also talked to my brother............but I'm here now. :-) I told my mom that I had posted the story about the flagpole to my blog and she said there had also been a nice little piece in the local paper. :-)

It's time for me to give you an update on the quilt made for Emma's Hope fundraiser. I have thanked everyone who made a block(s) for the Emma's Hope quilt and want you to know just how much your time and talents were appreciated!
The large quilt made $400 at Silent Auction. This was not nearly the amount one might have thought the quilt would make but the good news in this ............ the person who bought the quilt has presented it to Emma and her family.

As you know, I chose some blocks for a small quilt that would go to Emma and I did that for two reasons..........one, while I noted in my first post that this was to be a fundraiser quilt, some of you thought the quilt blocks were going to be used in a quilt for Emma. And two, I had a hard time making a quilt that was just for fund-raising and wanted something that would go to Emma so I laid out all the blocks and the ones that needed to be in the big quilt just fell into place and the more personal ones just worked in the smaller quilt. The large quilt was then handquilted and bound. The smaller quilt is being handquilted by Esther, the lady who organized the group for the larger quilt. Connie, Emma's grandma is going to back the quilt with the small lap quilt that was received in the block donations. When that one is finished, I'll post a picture. I also will post a picture and the names of each person who made each of the blocks. I think I will get to that later this week.

I loved the end result of the large quilt. The pictures make it look good but when you saw it in person, it was truly stunning. I don't say this just because I was involved in the process. I am hearing this from people who saw it at the post office or at the fundraiser. I want to make this same quilt and keep it for my family. As I noted earlier, I never really made a quilt for my father. I still haven't finished quilting that race quilt for my husband. The last quilt I made for my grandson was his baby quilt and that was ten years ago. I have a small wall quilt I want to make for my daughter and one for my son that will have a music theme. I think it's time to make quilts for my family. I've been involved in many fundraiser quilts and I have found that a lot of work is put into them and they don't bring that much in return. This doesn't mean I won't make quilts for other folks. Nope, because I have already set the dates for our Sew and Share event - Oct. 19 & 20 - where we will make quilts for local families in need and also Christmas stockings to fill. Plus, I have baby quilts to make for my niece and my son's friend. And I just finished one for our new Pastor's baby boy. There was a baby shower at church this morning and I haven't seen so many cute little boy things in years (as in ten years since my grandson was born). Here's Joe, the new papa, and Pastor Brigit, as they opened the gift I made. They got so many lovely gifts! It took several trips just to get them from the church to the parsonage!

I would post a picture of the baby but I didn't ask permission so I don't want to do it without asking.

Here is picture of the quilt that I took outside yesterday afternoon. It's all flannel pieces and then fleece border and backing. I took some detailed photos as I stitched it together and tomorrow I will do a post on it in case any of you want to try this. And then..............I am going to begin taking you through block designs so that I can make my own red, white and blue quilt and you can, too. I'm giving the quilt a new name..........."Grace and a Prayer" and on Wednesday, June 18th I'll present the first blocks and some variations of blocks so that we can make a nine block wall quilt or a lap quilt or a really large quilt. Gather up some red, white and blue fabrics (and I opted for some green and purple, too) and get ready to quilt along with me. And if red, white and blue aren't your colors, choose ones that you like but I do think that keeping the colors to three or four makes for a more attractive quilt. I'm going to make a nine block wall quilt first, so that I can finish it and take it to the Care Center in July and then I'll also be making blocks for the larger quilt for my family. I will be offering some block patterns and those will be posted in my SeasonsBOM Yahoo group. If you are not a member, you can click here to join. All block designs that I give instruction for are blocks that are in the Public Domain and/or my original designs. I have a cool design for a heart that used stripes so be sure and have some stripes in your fabrics.

So, now the day is almost over and I have just a couple more photos to share. I have never posted as much as I did today, but I had loads of stuff to share. I took a break and ate lunch out on the front porch. I took my "front porch basket project" (this Thimbleberries runner will get done by the end of the summer!) and stitched for a bit after I finished eating.

Here's what I would see when I would look up from my stitching. It was just an incredibly beautiful, warm summer day!!!

Even Kaiser, the wonder dog, was enjoying the scenery.

Yes, it was a fine day and it sounds like there will be more of this weather the rest of the week. There might be some thunderstorms but the rain is needed and so it will be welcome. That's all for now.

Sandi