New Quilts

I haven’t done a crafting post in a while, so the time seems ripe. Actually, it’s because I hadn’t done much crafting, but now I have. A little bit, anyway. And since I’ve been really bad at taking pictures this week, I don’t have a Picture of the Week, either… So today’s all about quilts!

The older boys were both drastically outgrowing their quilts. Because they don’t have standard size beds, I make their quilts more to fit them than to fit the beds. (They have Ikea beds that are essentially extra-long toddler beds. They’ve had them for two years, and we love them!)

When I went to JoAnn’s a couple of weeks ago, I had a bit of money but no idea what to make or who to make it for. I found these flannel rolls for really cheap

so I got three of them. When I got home, Munchkin loved the fabric prints, and since I’d been noticing that his quilts were much smaller than Seahawk’s (he is three years  younger, after all), he got a quilt first. I didn’t give him any choices in the fabric (since I bought it with no one in mind) or the design (as soon as I decided to make a quilt from these prints, I had the design in my head). But he loves it all the same.

After Munchkin’s quilt was done, I started noticing that Seahawk was way too big for his blankets too! I thought his blanket that I’d made him a couple of years ago (actually, it’s been about 4 now that I think about it… where does the time go?!) was still okay, but seeing him trying to huddle underneath it while Munchkin was stretched out nice and warm under his flannel quilt made me see the old quilt for what it was… So the kids and I all went to the fabric store and Seahawk got to choose his own fabrics. And his own design. It might be a little unfair to Munchkin that Seahawk got to have his way with his new quilt, but Munchkin got his first, so it all evens out.

The day we went to get Seahawk’s fabric, the flannel was on sale for 60% off, so that was a huge win. It took him a long time to find exactly what he wanted, but as soon as he spotted these dinosaurs, he knew that they were it. I talked him into getting a plain color for the contrast so as not to take away from the dinosaurs, and he agreed. The brown was just perfect. (Have I ever mentioned that brown is one of my favorite colors? It is.) He had a blue picked out for the back that would have been awesome; it matched the blue dinosaurs perfectly, but there didn’t end up being enough of it, so we picked a grassy green instead. It worked out great.

I got the quilt all done and quilted, ready for binding, and then horror of horrors, realized that it was too narrow. I should’ve figured it out before I quilted it – adding borders to make it bigger then would’ve been a snap – but I didn’t. So I had to do some intense research to figure out how to add quilted borders to a quilted-but-not-bound quilt. I found a YouTube video tutorial for a Quilt-As-You-Go quilt that turned out to be just perfect. Using her technique, I was able to make the quilt several inches wider before I put the binding on, and now the quilt is actually a good size for my son.

Both boys are in love with their new quilts. And because both are made of flannel, they’re crazy warm – which is good since my children are anti-pajamas.

I’ll have another quilt to show you guys in a couple of weeks. I’m having some trouble getting it just perfect, but once I do, it’s going to be gorgeous. I can’t wait to have it done and ready to show off!