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! 😸

 

Selina And the Bear Paw Quilt--Quilting in Children's Literature

This is a book of historical fiction about a Mennonite family who left their Pennsylvania home during the US Civil War to emigrate to Canada.

Smucker, Barbara. Selina and the Bear Paw Quilt. Illustrated by Janet Wilson. Crown, 1995. ISBN: 978-0517709047

The book begins with an author's Introduction explaining the historical setting for the book. Pacifist Mennonites in the United States were believed disloyal by both the North and the South because they would not participate in the War. As a result, they were the victims of religious persecution and violence. Many Mennonite families left the US to settle in Canada. This is the story of one of those families.

Selena watches her mother quilt by the light of the oil lamps.

Selina's grandmother makes a Bear Paw quilt from fabric which includes scraps of family clothing scraps. As she works, she tells Selina the stories represented by the fabrics.

 

Selina and her grandmother with the Bear Paw quilt

 

Selina's parents make plans to move to Canada away from the War. They are sad to leave their farm, and even more sad that Grandmother will not be going with them. Grandmother explains, "I am old now, too old to start my life again," and she will be staying behind to live with her brother and his family. 

Selena meets her Canadian Uncle's family

 

As a going-away gift, Grandmother gives Selina the Bear Paw quilt top. When the family reaches Canada, Selina shows it to the branch of her family already living there, and discovers that her quilt and theirs have pieces in common. Plans are made to finish the Bear Paw quilt, and it will be for Selina's bed in the family's new home.

 

Showing the quilt to her new family

 

Janet Wilson's illustrations in the book are warm and lovely, and they are bordered by many different quilt patterns. The endpapers show examples of Bear Paw blocks. The back of the book is a legend for the quilted borders of the pages.

Endpapers

Back cover of book

 

In this picture book, we have a quilt as representative of family connection and of the comfort of the familiar in a new place or situation.

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.

String Carpenter's Star

If you have read my blog (or just looked at the pictures!) you know that I delight in string blocks. This is my latest string project.

String Carpenter's Star (82" x 82")

Carpenter's Star (sometimes called Carpenter's Wheel) is a traditional pattern, and layout charts are available in many places online (the one I used is HERE), but I substituted string blocks for the regular color or print blocks.

I drew it on EQ8, so I could get an idea of what I would need.

EQ8 Plan--I did change the four corners to string blocks rather than the plain ones shown.

I can never get an adequate look at the variety of strings in my blocks with the program, but it did help with my numbers and placement for the blocks.

The blocks finish at 4", the quilt is a combination of full string blocks, HSTs of strings and background, and plain background blocks. (I did use rectangles of background fabric as a kind of border around the center part instead of using a bunch of plain background blocks sewn together.)

String Carpenter's star (center detail)

It took me a bit of time to assemble. I started with the center and built it outwards; this way I could see the pattern coming together as I went--trying to do it row-by-row didn't fit in my brain!

String Carpenter's Star (backing and binding detail)

I found a piece of 108" backing in my stash. With all the seams in the top, I thought a one piece backing would be easier to quilt. Quilting is not my strong suit, so it is stitched in the ditch between blocks; I also stitched just inside the edges of the zigzagging string blocks.

I am happy with the result. I've always wanted to try this pattern; I think it makes a beautiful quilt. In substituting the string blocks, I made it a little different from the norm. This substitution can work in many projects.

 

In this one, I used the Arkansas Crossroads pattern.

String Crossroads

 

This one is Stringy Lanes which uses the Sunny Lanes pattern.

Stringy Lanes

Here is a Bear Paw with string blocks.

Bear Paw

The possibilities are limitless. If you enjoy string blocks, be on the lookout for non-traditional ways that you can use them.

Happy Quilting! 😸