Lotsa Sewing Going on .....

Continuing on with the sewing and quilts topic:

I have been working on a quilt for Owen's bed.  Of course he is only 13 months old.  He is not ready for a bed yet.  But he will have a quilt! 

Story behind this:  Hilary and I picked up Landon from school one afternoon and stopped at Rossville Quilts for fabric to recover the window seat cushion/pad.  The old one that I had made several years ago just before Thanksgiving was faded.  It needed some sprucing up.

We pulled into the parking area.

Landon:  What is this?

Me:  Rossville Quilts

Landon:  What do they have in there?

Me:  Fabric for quilts

Landon: (grumble, grumble) why do we have to stop here.  I don't like fabric.

{Open door and go into store}

Landon: WOW!  LOOK AT ALL OF THIS COOL STUFF!  (and off he goes)

So as Hilary and I are looking for some type of color to match the living room, Landon is checking out everything else. 

He looked at the bolts of fabric.

He picked up layer cakes and jelly rolls.

He looked at charm packs.

He picked up fat quarters.

After Hilary and I agreed on a fabric for the seat cushion cover and I had gone to the cutting table, she looked for Landon.  Soon he was at my side.

Landon: Look what I found! (and he held up a charm pack of dinosaur prints)  This would be great for Owen's room.  Can you make a quilt for him?

Me:  Sure I could.  (now how can I say no to a grandson who is asking me to make a quilt for his little brother who is still in foster care but hopefully will be adopted in the next year).

After checking with the sales clerk about fabric needed, I walked out with a layer cake of the dinosaur fabric.  (the charm pack or even two would not have been enough, but I returned the next week and picked up another charm pack to add to the layer cake - confused?   That's ok.  I would be too)

The goal?  A quilt for Owen in the dinosaur print that will be perfect for a twin bed but which can be used for a double bed as well with a dust ruffle.





Step 1:  Cut squares into triangles and sew together a light and a dark fabric.

I am still a rookie with this, and this is the first quilt I have made that is not just basic squares sewn together with a border.  I went to JoAnns and picked up fat quarters in the solid colors to match the colors in the prints.  I am hoping to add strips of solid color between the reconstructed squares of four prints in triangles joined together.  I am hoping that when I lay out the squares, I can add strips between the squares.  Next I can sew together some of the squares from the charm pack and add another  row at the top and bottom and on each side.  Then we shall see what we have for width and length.  I will still need backing fabric and binding fabric and batting.  That is when I visit Betty for help.  I hope I can do everything up to that point without needing her help.




Step 2: cut two sets of new squares in half and sew together so that there are two lights and two darks (this was hard to do since there were some distinctly 'dark' fabrics and some distinctly 'light' fabrics and many many in-between)

As I finished the last reconstructed square tonight and put things away, I gave thanks for not teaching anymore.  I have plans for tomorrow to meet Karen Swygart in Wabash for lunch, then stop at the Logansport campus to visit with Leo for a while.  But I don't have papers to grade or think about what I am teaching tomorrow or sigh because I won't be able to return to the quilt for a week or so.

Sew on!  I love it!