Time for a Baby Quilt!

 My niece has a new (big!) baby boy, so you know what I did--made a flannel baby quilt!

Baby Quilt--36" x 54"

 

The red flannel is printed with a funny assortment of animals (cows, horses, owls, foxes, giraffes, elephants, and dinosaurs--dinosaurs?!?). I think the fabric designer asked some kids what their favorite animals were, rather than sticking with a theme. 😸  I made this as a D9P with green in the center squares. I also pieced the back.

 

Baby Quilt (back and binding detail)

Welcome little one! 👶

More Donation Quilts

I use 3.5" squares as Leaders and Enders which I sew together to create donation quilts.

Donation Quilt (74" x 80")

Donation Quilt (backing and binding detail)

This one will likely be used as a donation for my department's adopted Holiday Family in December.

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These five will be given to Abilities First, an agency that helps individuals with developmental disabilities.

Donation Quilts (62" x 74")

I use scraps and scrappy bindings for these quilts. It is fun to look back over the projects I've done that year by revisiting the leftover scraps.

I enjoy making these--it helps me feel like I'm giving every time I sit down to sew.

Happy Quilting! 😸

The Dream Quilt--Quilting in Children's Literature

 There is more than one book entitled, The Dream Quilt. After all, quilts and dreams do go together!

Ryan Celeste. The Dream Quilt. Illustrated by Mary Haverfield. Waterbrook, 1999. ISBN: 978-1578562237

 

 

 

This Christian picture book centers on the following Bible verse:

"You, O God, are strong.

And You, O Lord, are loving." (Psalm 62: 11-12)

 

Michael has nightmares. He wakes crying and his mother comforts him and tells him,"When I was little, I had scary dreams, too. Granny Rose would pray with me and cover me up with my special quilt. It made me feel so warn and safe." When Michael asks if he could use her quilt, the two of them went into the attic and found it.

That night, after Michael said his prayers and settled in bed, they played the game that Mother and Granny Rose played when she was little. She asked him to choose his favorite square on the quilt. He chose a blue one. Mother told him to pretend that he was a letter and the quilt was his envelope.

The stamp on his envelope was a kiss. A rhyme repeated through the book is "A kiss for a stamp--and quick as you can, away you go to a bright blue land!"

That night, Michael had beautiful blue dreams.

The next night he chose a yellow square, and the result was a yellow dream night.

When Granny Rose came to visit, she took the quilt home for some needed repairs. Michael was worried that without the quilt his bad dreams would come back, but his mother told him about God's promise in the rainbow, and with a prayer and her kiss, sent him to a rainbow dreamland.

Rainbow dreams

Granny Rose returned the quilt, but Michael "almost never had bad dreams again."

In this book, the quilt is a comfort and a reminder of God's love.

The Dream Quilt

The illustrations in this book are mixed media--some include collage. They are interesting to examine in detail, yet bright and simple enough to clearly depict the story. 

The text is clear and easy-to-read. The vocabulary is limited, and some word meanings can be deduced by looking at the illustrations. The recurring rhyme adds to its appeal as a read aloud book.

Happy Quilting! 😸

A reminder--you can find my posts on Quilts in Children's Literature by clicking "Children's Literature" in the list of labels on the right-hand pane of this blog.

NOTE: I found my books used from BetterWorldBooks.com. I can highly recommend this site. Not only do they always have free shipping, but they also contribute a book to someone in need for every book you buy. I was not compensated for this recommendation--I just love doing business with them.

Bits and Pieces

 

Pink and Blue bits and pieces in a 12" block

 

Brown, Blue, and Green bits and pieces in a 12" block

I'm combining leftover units and parts of units to make an orphan blocks quilt. It's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, except there is no finished picture to go by! 🤪

I'm going to try to make other sizes of blocks as well, so the top will be more varied and interesting.

Lots more fun to be had!

Happy Quilting. 😸

 

Double Disappearing Nine Patch (D9P)

 I love D9Ps, but I hadn't tried doubling the pattern until now!

Double D9P (80" x 80")

 

I had a layer cake of which I wasn't too fond, so I put it to work trying this. A double D9P isn't hard--you just do the cutting and sewing twice. Start with a nine-patch, cut it in quarters, then use those pieces for the corners in a bigger nine-patch, and cut that one in quarters. Arrange in the pattern you prefer. I have some instructions on making a standard D9P HERE.

Double D9P (Backing and binding detail)

 As I mentioned, I am not fond of the print fabrics (I'm really not a low-volume kind of quilter). I also found that starting with 5" blocks in the first nine-patch meant that the second nine-patch that I constructed used very large blocks. The result is that I wound up with more white than I wished in the final quilt.

Next time, I'm starting smaller. If I use 2" blocks to make the first nine-patch, the second iteration blocks will be 3", much smaller than the 7.5" from my first attempt. I could even, perhaps, triple the procedure to see what that would look like.

I see more experiments in my future!

Happy Quilting! 😸