Rag Quilt for Paul

This quilt isn't unusual or spectacular, and it will never win a prize.  But I suspect it will be one of the most loved quilts I will ever give my son.  I made this for my oldest son, Paul, for Christmas.  It's all flannels and the plaid fabric in there has a "history".  Paul is a grown (married) man.  He is one of those rare men who hangs onto things and loves things that conjure up old (good) memories.  It's fun to make things for him because you know he'll love it and hang onto it.  The plaid is from his old bedding from when he was in middle school.  He never liked to use a top sheet back then.  While the fitted sheet was thread bare and had to be tossed, the top sheet was like new.  He loved that old bedding and fought me not to get rid of it when I wanted to give it a sendoff on trash day.  I had it in my linen closet for many years- saving it for who knows what.  This year, I decided to purchase some solid flannels to coordinate with it and put this snugly rag quilt together for him.

The flannel squares are 8" and the batting squares are 7".  If you're not familiar with rag quilts, you made little sandwiches and sew X's through them.... then sew them together with a 1/2" seam... then sew a line all around the perimeter at 1/2".  After it's all assembled, you put on a good movie, get out your trusty rag snips, and make a million little cuts in the exposed seams, being careful not to cut through the stitching lines.  The magic happens when you run it through the washer and dryer and watch it "bloom".

  I'm sure this is destined to live in Paul and Cady's family room and will be Paul's adult "blankie".  (Fingers crossed he won't see this post before Christmas)

Playing with Girl Scouts Fabric

 

I just had to play with this Girl Scout fabric!  There are some free downloads on my website that use this cute collection.  They are found at the end of the Girl Scouts fabric collection.  There are also some free patterns at the end of the Boy Scouts collection.  All of these easy patterns can certainly be made in other fabrics!

First, I made the Friendship Quilt.  It uses 11 Fat Quarters plus backing and binding.  Two of the 11 FQ's have to be the same.  The Girl Scouts patterns are written for the young sewer so they're great for teaching kids to sew.  My friend, Sandy Pennington, is an amazing longarm quilter and she quilted it for me with flowers.  See the flower in the closeup of the Thin Mint fabric?

I'll be happy to make up kits for any of the downloads on request.

The quilt is a nice sized throw.... just right for a little Girl Scout!  Thanks so much for quilting it Sandy!

Next, I made a pillow case to match.  There's nothing like dreaming of Thin Mints!  The pillow case pattern is with the Boy Scouts fabric.  I also have this one with the little contrasting strip.  If you have trouble finding any of the patterns, let me know.

And finally, I made a rag quilt bag.  The pattern for the bag is on this blog- look over at the dozen bags posts.  This one is just like the pattern, EXCEPT that the squares I started with were only 4 inches and the batting was 3 inches.  I sold a lot of the flannel for mother/daughter bags in the 2 sizes.

If you've made a quilt or any project with the Girl Scouts fabric, send me a picture and I'll post it here.