If you’re a grandma and your grandson (Teddy) tells you he and his stuffed pig need a blanket for his birthday, what do you do? Why, you make him and his pig a blanket! I decided to make a simple quilt.
The last time I made a quilt, I bought two kits at a local craft store and made them for Tommy (at that time) and Kari to use for their naps. The quilts turned out nicely, but required no imagination on my part–I just used the materials in the kits and followed the directions.
Tommy’s lion quilt. I gave it to Katie as a baby shower gift for Sefton, along with some other baby items of Thom’s.
Kari’s quilt. She took this picture and sent it to me as I started working on Teddy’s quilt.This time, I was on my own, but how hard could a kid’s quilt be? I bought some appropriate pig-patterned fabric, some backing, and some batting, then went home to attach two pieces of fabric to the batting and bind the edges. I did not anticipate any enhancements–after all, it was for a nine-year-old and his stuffed pig!
Then I made the mistake of talking to the Quilting Queen, my sister-in-law, Mutzie. She thought it would be nice to include a matching pillow. Well, why not? I had three throw pillows in the Goodwill box, so I rescued one. Mutzie also thought an appliquéd pig cut out of the backing fabric and placed in the center of the top side would be cute. I decided I might as well do the same on the pillow so it would look like a matched set. Even better, I could use my sewing machine to add Teddy’s name to the quilt and Waffles’ name (the stuffed pig) to the pillow.
So far, I’ve altered one pillowcase with the new sewing machine I bought in December, so I still had to follow the instruction book to thread the needle, fill the bobbin and figure out how to use the touch screen to raise/lower the foot, select the stitch, the stitch length, and the tension and all the other stuff you have to do to sew. (Sewing machines have come a long way in the last 50+ years.) That slowed me down a lot in the beginning, but I can do it all without looking at the instruction book now!
When I estimated under ten hours to make this quilt, I obviously misjudged how long it would take to pin, baste, and sew so many things (appliqués, layers, binding). Including the time it took to learn how to use my new sewing machine, I almost reached the forty-hour mark.
The project was fun. The quilt turned out very well and I learned that my sewing machine is awesome. I definitely made a good selection when I bought it. Now I want to work on another project, just to use my sewing machine!
The Quilting Queen told me quilts should always be photographed vertically. Pay no attention to the man behind the quilt.
Don’t all artists sign their work? I had to try this feature of my sewing machine for the lettering on the quilt and on the pillow.