Monday, September 2, 2013

Flannel Raggy Baby Quilts


Had a bunch of leftover scraps of flannel so I decided to make a couple more raggy quilts.  I cut out as many squares as I can to see which ones would go together, then try and figure out a back square for the block. 
I love designing a pattern with the squares.  I lay the squares out on the floor and then keep re-arranging them, taking photos of each possibility. Then I look at my options a few days later and pick a design to go with.


7 inch blocks made from flannel scraps from other projects

This little pink and yellow one has solid pink on all the backs. It was a brand new whole piece of flannel and it seemed to work well.

Solid pink back
I traced a heart pattern on each block and then stitched it on with my machine. That keeps the little squares of batting on the insides of the blocks from bunching up when the quilt if washed.


This is my little boy raggy quilt with 6 1/2 inch blocks

The back of each block is identical to the front

This little raggy quilt was given to Courtney Unger for her little baby boy, Maverick, born July of 2013. 
We visited the Ungers in Thompson when we went there for our mother's funeral.
These little quilts are fast and fun to make! :)




Diamonds Jubilee Bargello- Pins, Pins and More Pins!


Bargello- Diamonds Jubilee quilt top


Today I finally pinned together my huge Diamonds Jubilee Bargello quilt! The quilt top is 104” inches wide and 105” inches long; The largest quilt I have made so far!

I had recently sewn 3 long pieces of fabric (Cat Tails and Clover by Kansas Troubles for Moda)( 43” X 112” inches each), one above the other to make a square 112” by 122”.  I was not happy with the quality of the big chunk of batting that I had (too many thin spots) so I went to town to buy a better one. 
(The other batting, I will cut up into smaller pieces for other quilts or bags, thus avoiding the thin spots.) 

What a job laying out the huge backing, taping it down to the kitchen floor, then laying the batting on top of that! Next I smoothed the quilt top on top of those first 2 layers and tried to make sure it was straight.  Then I started pinning the 3 layers together in the centre working my way out. I soon ran out of pins!

Leaving the quilt layers taped to the floor, we drove to town that afternoon where I bought 80 more curved safety pins. (Also leaving the cats outside and the dogs down stairs as hey are entirely too inquisitive...)  

Once it was thoroughly pinned together, I trimmed the excess batting and back fabric off the sides of the quilt, leaving about 4 inches extra on all sides. After that I rolled the quilt towards the middle from both long sides.  

Now I plan on first ditch quilting the 2 centre seams and then free motion quilting my Bargello in a leaf/ vine pattern vertically from top to bottom.  Haven’t decided yet about how to quilt the borders...  This will be  a bit of work, but I think it will be well worth it once it’s completed. :)

Happy quilting!




Laying the back fabric and the batting on the kitchen floor, then the quilt top on top was a bit tricky as the floor space was not quite big enough!