Toddler Boy Quilt

One of my little guy's first words was "Melmo" meaning Elmo.

A few words later he learned to say "Buzz!" with much excitement. And, with the release of Toy Story 3, Buzz was everywhere. No matter where we were there was sure to be a Buzz to point out. After those two came "choo choo" (Thomas), "Orge" (Curious George), and Cars.

As much I would love for him to be into more mature colors, Americana plaids and stripes, the truth is that this kid loves his characters. They are familiar, and when he says their names we understand him - which makes for a very happy toddler - since he is often misunderstood and therefore frustrated.

Anyway, after seeing the new Toy Story fabric come into the Hob Lob where I work, I knew that I had to make my little guy a quilt with all of his favorite friends.

So, here it is!:

The quilt is about 40'x 50". Each Character is an 8" square and is paired with (2) 1 inch strips on one side and (1) 2 inch strip on the other to make a 10 inch finished block size.

In order to mix all of the different colors from the character fabric I did a thin 1" sashing throughout and a 2" boarder. I simplified the quilt by sewing the front, back and batting right sides together and then flipping and topstitching.

I quilted it with random swirls, numbers, and shapes on my regular machine with a free motion foot. It took some practice, but I got it done with okay results.

He loves it and so do I!

The Halloween Rag Quilt

Here it is folks, the quilt that almost killed me.

It's a Halloween rag quilt for our Church's blanket trick or treating, of course!

8ft by 6ft

96 individually quilted and ragged blocks.

I used a different quilting technique for each block color.

Some have words or pictures. Some are just lines and swirls.

For this rag quilt I cut all of the squares out of the top fabric and also the back fabric (which was black).

I also cut the batting into squares an inch smaller than the fabric.

After making my block sandwiches with back fabric, batting, and top fabric, I quilted each block. I just used my regular sewing machine to do this. I drew designs onto the fabric with a disappearing marking pen and then "traced" them with my sewing machine. It was time consuming, but it wasn't difficult.

When all of the blocks were quilted, I sewed them together with wrong sides together. This puts the seams facing the top of the quilt.

After putting together all of the blocks, sit down, put on a movie and get comfy. Then start snipping! Wash the blanket and enjoy!