Quilting, a Comfort

I've got the first block done and others will soon follow as they are in different stages of development. The pattern is called Baby Bows and I've made it a couple times before but only the quilts were nap size. I increased the block size by four inches hoping to speed up the time it takes to get the quilt done. I'm also cutting out and working on another quilt called Butter Churn which includes many of the same fabrics. Time is ticking away and cold weather isn't far off. The kids will need more quilts on their beds to stay warm at night. Right now, our youngest has only one twin quilt on her bed and so her nap blanket lays on top of that at night. The middle grand daughter has a double quilt folded in half on her bed and the oldest two thin twin quilts.With the youngest grand daughter also needing a big girl quilt for her bed at home when she turns two in January, I've some serious quilt making to get done in a short time. I looked for some nice bed sheets to make quilts out of but all I saw was solid colors and I was looking for plaids, checks, or something that was easy to mark, sew or tie.

You might think I'm all done with canning etc. I'm not but canning dried beans will wait and though the food drying is sitting on the counter reminding me, I haven't gotten to making fruit leather with the peaches that are in jars but a few years old. It's how I recycle them. The kids, old and young, gobble the, older and slightly discolored from age, fruit up in a hurry. It really should be on my to do priority list but I can't resist sneaking to the basement for a little while each day to sew.

Today, I spent some time trying to get a handle on life. My prayer is that with the new job our daughter just got and will start next week, is that I will have a set schedule. It will help with the finances also. Presently, nearly everyday my plans for the day are turned upside down and time to get my tasks accomplish is shrunk into a very small time frame. Meanwhile, I'm picking up the ball others have dropped and dropping some of my own in the process. It's driving me crazy. I'm a pretty flexible person but this life I'm living doesn't have any shape or form. Not even jello but I'd have to say more like a flood of water with little control.

So this quilt that some may perceive as more work, is actually a creative release. Quilts in my world equate to comfort. Comfort making them and comfort snuggling under them. It is one of the things our grand daughters love about our house. Snuggling together underneath a warm quilt, reading or watching a movie. And though some may enjoy the ones you purchase from Walmart or K-mart. They're rough and the textures under my work worn finger tips catch as my hands rub across them and it is like fingernails on a chalk board for me. It's my sensory processing which over loads easily with sounds, colors, and textures that causes this irritation. That's why during this highly stressful time, I'm working with cotton flannel. Not the expensive type from many fabric stores but little bits I've picked up here and there at a good price. Oh, dont get me wrong I love the expensive brands of flannel as I've a rich man's taste but alas, a poor man's budget.

So just in case your needing a quilt to work on too, I'll give you a quick run down of this simple and fun pattern. The first step is to cut a four inch strips of fabric from your 45" width and then cut that down to four inch squares. Cut one strip from a solid colored fabric and the other a patterned fabric. This quilt works well in using up scraps of fabric from other sewing projects. Flannel need not be the fabric of choice.

Then I cut a strip of the same patterned fabric that is 2 3/4 inches wide by approx. 45" wide and cut that down into 2 3/4 inch squares. Taking one square, I folded it in half and creased the fold with my fingers to leave a visible line to sew along.

Then I laid that on top of the solid colored four-inch square, matching the corner. After sewing along the line, I cut a seam allowance. Pressing the seam open to alleiate bulk, you have a square once more.

The next step to to sew the squres together. There are several ways of combining the squares but my favorite is the one in the first photo. I'll let you watch as the quilt progresses but I've promised scrambled eggs and toast to the kiddos. I'm cooking dinner but they've vetoed it for breakfast. Oh well, it will be all made for tomorrow. I'll have the kids for the next couple days and nights and food already cooked is a treat. Then our daughter will have a few hours here and there to give me time to do some of my own work. It looks to be a long week ahead.