NEW QUILT: CRABS AND BEARS AND DUCKS, OH MY!

I know, I know!! I've neglected my blog severely! I do have a good excuse, but in this post I want to show off my latest baby clothes quilt. The clothes my client supplied were just so cute with all sorts of adorable animals including a number of surprisingly sweet crabs.

There were also a number of bears and ducks and even a monkey or two plus some superhero vibe with Batman and Superman. The clothes were definitely representative of a typical boy.

For this quilt the client wanted to select her own fabric for the back and the block framing and she did a really good job. For the back we used a white on brown polka dot. The blocks were framed with a coordinating brown on white polka dot. 



I do love polka dots; I think they are fun and sweet and young without being childish. Don't you think the polka dots are perfect for this quilt?

I know this quilt will be treasured for many years to come and I'm so proud to have had the chance to work on it.

THE MAKING OF A BABY CLOTHES QUILT - The Finale

Today is the final entry in "The Making of a Baby Clothes Quilt" series on my blog. I'll tell you about assembling the quilt and show you the finished product.

After all the blocks are "sandwiched" and stitched, I lay them out on my cutting table in a random pattern and then make adjustments in placement until it has a look that pleases me. I love that moment when I can say to myself, "Yes, that's it!" And that's a remarkable moment for a perfectionist!

After the layout is finalized I pin the blocks in each row together to make sure that they stay in the proper order. Then I sew them together with a double seam to make sure the quilt is sturdy and will last thru lots of use. This shows one of the strips with the blocks pinned.

Next I pin and sew together the strips in sets of two. You will find that this makes assembly much easier, especially when you have limited space like I do. I use about a 3/4" seam for a nice bloom or fringe. Here are two of the strips after being sewn together.

Since this quilt had eight rows,  had four sets of two strips at this point. Then I sewed two sets of two strips together for two sets of four. Then one final seam to complete the assembly. After the quilt is all sewn together, I sew around the edge twice to make the space for fringing the edge.

This shows the completed quilt before clipping.

And, ta-da, here is the finished quilt. It measures about 55" x 62".

I just love all the red in this quilt. I can see it on a winter day, adorning a sofa or keeping someone warm while watching a movie or reading a book. I love this quilt and my customer told me she loves it, too. I love a success!



THE MAKING OF A BABY CLOTHES QUILT - part 5

Today I'll show you how I trim the framed blocks and assemble the "sandwiches". It's all sewing from here on.

The finished blocks need to be 9.5" square so I use my handy-dandy 9.5" square ruler to trim all the blocks. This ensures that all the blocks are the same size and have a straight edge all the way around. It's pretty easy if you find the center of each side and align the 4.75" mark with them. I center everything on the clothing square.

On this quilt I used two layers of flannel on the back. I always use one layer for the middle, but this customer wanted an especially cuddly quilt so we went with flannel for the back layer, too.

After assembling the "sammies" I put a couple of pins in to keep everything in line until they can be sewn together.

Then I stitch around the "ditch" where the frame is sewn to the square. This makes the stitching about invisible on the front. And it makes a nice square pattern on the back. Usually a rag quilt is sewn with an X, but that won't work with this type of quilt.

In the final installment, I'll show how I sew the blocks together and you can see the completed quilt. Thanks for your interest in this process and my quilts.

THE MAKING OF A BABY CLOTHES QUILT - part 4

Now we get to the framing of the blocks. This gives us a cotton edge that fringes much better than the stabilized knits. The framing strips are 2.5" wide and 6.5" and 10" long. Of course I cut twice the number of blocks for each length. Below are the strips cut for this quilt.

I start by sewing the 6.5" strips down each side. (I like the way it looks with the longer strips across the top and bottom, but you could do it whichever way looks good to you.) I  use chain stitching to save on thread.

After the side strips are sewn I press them with the steam iron to make a nice, neat seam. Then the blocks are ready for the top and bottom strips.

These are sewn just like the side strips; chain sewning  again saves on thread.

And here's the finished framed block, ready for trimming. I'll show that and the "sandwiching" in the next blog post.



THE MAKING OF A BABY CLOTHES QUILT - part 3

Today I'm going to show you how I fuse the stabilizer to the blocks and also affix the appliques. Because the fabrics I use from the baby clothes vary in weight from thin tshirts to knitted sweaters, I like to use a lightweight fusible interfacing. I found the the Pellon 911FF - fusible featherweight - serves my purpose very well. All I need is something that will keep the knits from stretching out.

I cut the interfacing in 6.5" squares, just like the clothing blocks using my ruler and rotary cutter. All it takes to fuse the interfacing is a steam iron set on cotton for about 10 seconds.

Now the blocks are stabilized for the next steps that involve sewing.

After the stabilizer is applied, I trim any part of the squares that extend beyond the interfacing. Then it's on to the appliques.

For my appliques I use Pellon Wonder Under Regular weight. This helps hold the piece in place until I can sew it. It's very easy to use. Larger pieces like the one above are sewn using a fairly tight zig zag stitch. For small ones I just use a straight stitch around the perimiter.

This is a sample of the different appliques I used in this particular quilt. Some are very tiny and some cover just about the entire block.

Next time I'll show you how I frame the blocks so that the seams can be ragged.

THE MAKING OF A BABY CLOTHES QUILT part 2

Back for part 2 of the holiday baby clothes quilt show. I apologize for the delay, but I'll explain that in another blog. You'll understand. Ok, back to the quilt. This picture shows the opened garment with my 6.5" ruler, getting ready to cut a block.

Here's the cut block. It's really quite easy on the solid pieces. The blocks don't always come out exactly perfect, but that's ok.

When cutting out the blocks with a print or embroidery,I like to have the embellishment centered, but that isn't always possible.

Most tshirts have the picture or whatever, closer to the neck so the picture ends up on the upper portion of the block like this one. I just try to crowd the ruler as close to the ribbing on the neck as possible.  Even if  you get a part of the ribbing, you can later remove it and that portion will end up in the seam allowance of the framing. More about that later.

When the embellishment is on a part of the garment that can't be cut into a 6.5" block, I cut a block from another part of the garment and then cut around the embellishment. This will be part will be trimmed down and appliqued to the block at a later time. Sometimes I even have to use another garment for the background block like when I'm using the embellishment from a bib that doesn't have anything big enough for a block.

Here are a couple more examples. I try to cut the applique as big as I can. If I can cut a piece that's the same width as the block, it makes things a lot easier and looks better with less stitching involved. But sometimes you just have to go small. It all depends on the applique, its size and how it's located on the garment.

Each of these quilts offers it's own challenges and opportunities to learn something new. I guess that's why I like making them. They are each truely one of a kind.

On the next installment I'll talk about fusing stabilizer to the blocks and preparing the appliques.

THE MAKING OF A BABY CLOTHES QUILT part 1

For a long time now, people have been asking me to do a tutorial on making a baby clothes quilt. Well, I'm not very good at tutorials, so what I'm going to do is tell the story of one baby clothes quilt from beginning to end. With pictures, of course.

It all starts when the box of baby clothes appears at my doorstep, courtesy of the USPS, FedEx or UPS. I love the feeling of anticipation when that box arrives and I can't wait to open it.

This particular box that arrived yesterday contains all holiday themed baby items and looks very festive right from the beginning. Look at that cute little reindeer.

Of course I have to take out all the clothing items so I can ooh and aah over them. This batch has a bunch of onsies and footed pj's that will yield lots of colorful blocks. There are also lots of cute tshirts, sweaters and bibs that will contribute to a truely one of a kind quilt. The main colors, of course, will be red, green and white with some blue thrown in for contrast.

The next step will be to cut apart the items just enough for them to lay flat for cutting blocks. I'll show that in the next blog. Stay tuned to see how this quilt turns out.



LEFTOVERS QUILT

The lady for whom I made the previous three quilts asked me to make a fourth since there were enough leftovers. I did the same four-patch treatment as the other quilts. She asked me to put the bird appliques from the girl's bedding as feature blocks and so I used two blocks from the boy's flannel blanket to balance the birds. I couldn't find any more of the yellow fabric I used on the previous three quilts so I used fabric that was just a bit lighter. I think it looks great!

Here's a close up of the center of the quilt with the feature blocks. The birds add a really whimsical touch to the quilt.

Again, I alternated the girl and boy blocks in the entire quilt. Another fun project finished and in the mail.

NEW KITTY FABRIC RAGGIES

I finally got around to using more of the cat fabric that my friends have given me and made two little raggies. The first is made from 42 6" blocks using 21 different fabrics (22 if you count the fabric on the reverse). It measures 29" X 34", the perfect lap quilt or crib quilt or even a table topper. Some of the fabrics are recent and some are vintage and they all combine to make a cat lover's quilt.

The second raggie is smaller - 19" X 19" - and would be a perfect table topper, security blanket or even a bed for your fur person. It's made from several cat prints by Debbie Mumm.

Both raggies are in my Etsy shop in case you just have to have one or both.

I'm sure you remember how all this started. I was trying to raise money to pay for Mimi and Mikey's medical bills. Well, it was all worth it as they are growing into beautiful kitties. Especialy Mimi. See for yourself in this recent picture.

Beautiful, isn't she? And she's quite the talker, too. She wants to thank all of you who sent good wishes for her and her brother's recovery.