Lavender Strip Race Quilt

I finally finished this quilt for the Gateway Quilt Guild "Quilters' Embrace" program. It has not been my favorite, but the finished product has grown on me.

It was supposed to be one of those strip race quilts where you sew a bunch of 2-1/2 inch wide strips together end to end--either on the square or by cutting the ends at 45 degree angles--and then cut off 18 inches on one end, then put together the two ends of the super long strip and sew it into a long block two strips wide. Next, sew those two together to make a long block four strips wide. Keep doing that until the quilt is the desired length or width.

Well, grace has never been my middle name. Those instructions did not work for me. For one thing, do you have any idea what it is like to have a mile-long strip draped across your floor, running down the hallway and wending through all the bedrooms, and then trying to keep that thing from twisting and hanging up as you pull it through the machine? All the while I tried to keep the cat from playing with it and getting wound up in it, and discouraged the husband from stepping all over it. I got as far as the super long block two strips wide and decided to come up with a Plan B.

I did the math on the strips given to me by the guild. They weren't baby patterns even though I only received enough strips for a quilt that size. I added strips from my own stash, did some more math to figure out the length I wanted the finished quilt to be, and cut the strips accordingly. I PATCHED those little stinkers together to make it all work.

Fortunately, I had this lavender fabric I picked up at a 50% off red tag sale with no idea at the time how I would use it. It became the border, backing and binding.

I put this quilt on my quilt frame along with an infant size quilt, and pinned the two inside seams together with the intent of quilting them at the same time. That sounded efficient to me since they were both relatively narrow and I planned to use light pink thread for both. We won't discuss how long those quilts sat on the frame, but this photo was taken in the middle of May. I finally got busy and got both of them quilted in a loose meandering stitch Monday evening.

The baby quilt I trimmed and will give to friend Sharon to bind and finish. It will probably go to one of the new moms at church. The lavender quilt I trimmed and bound this afternoon.

Now, if I can just get my "Today's Army" veteran's quilt (which I finally found after it had been misplaced for about ten months) finished this month, I will have met my personal Quilters' Embrace goal for the year.

Flannel Baby Blankets

For part of the Quilters' Embrace program for the Gateway Quilt Guild, I make four flannel baby blankets for newborns--two on Saturday and two today. I understand they like to have about 2 dozen to give to the local hospital.

Basically, they are two pieces of flannel sewn together and are about the same size as a receiving blanket.

I personally like pastels for newborns. Save the bold colors and patterns until they are older and can focus their eyes better. That said, my blanket on the right is bold and bright, but I like it.

In addition to a decorative stitch around the edge, we sew across the middle, usually in an "X" pattern. This is to keep the baby from getting twisted up inside the two halves or, worse yet, to keep the baby from falling if the layers shift while the baby is held.

I mostly root around the remnant bin looking for pieces that are at least 30" long. One was slightly less than that, so I paired it up with a larger piece to make a border to widen it.

 Some of our quilters do a beautiful job with the border and mitered corners. I didn't miter mine.

These little blankies are not as easy to make as one might think. Cotton flannel is soft and cuddly for little ones, but it is a loose weave. The two layers of fabric kept shifting while I tried to sew it. It was hard to keep the corners squared up and the top fabric from stretching and puckering. But, I got through it. Hopefully, once they are washed, they will look okay.

I didn't like the idea of putting on one of the big clunky pre-printed Quilters' Embrace labels, so I made my own. I decorated them with a fancy little stitch just for grins.

Frankly, I prefer sewing woven muslin or calico over flannel any day of the week.