I was so excited when my younger sister found out she was going to have a baby boy. I thought I had the perfect quilt for her, the Animal Junction Quilt. I had been saving it for someone special because it is so fun and I hand quilted it.
I went to visit her in TX and gave her the quilt, but at that time I saw her nursery theme... Navy, White, and Orange with Chevron and Elephants prints. Of course the quilt I made her didn't match and I couldn't get those colors out of my mind after I came home. I wanted to make a quilt to match.
I surfing quilt fabric and quilt designs, and came across Honeybear Lane on Etsy. I thought the Puff Quilts were darling and I saw she had a PDF Tutorial for sale! I bought it and downloaded it as soon as I got the link, wow it is a comprehensive tutorial!
I ordered the following fabrics
Daiwabo House Designer - Tip Top Canvas - Elephants in Ivory on Tangerine & Riley Blake Designs - Large Chevron - Large Chevron in Orange
Riley Blake Designs - Chevron - Chevron in Navy Jack and Lulu - Its a Shore Thing - Cabana Stripe in Navy
Riley Blake Designs - Cotton Dots Medium - Medium Dots in Navy Amy Butler - Lotus - Full Moon Polka Dot in Tangerine
Shannon Fabrics House Designer - Dimple Dot Cuddle / Minky - Dimple Dot Cuddle / Minky in Orange & Navy
The cutting began! It started out as a very fun/quick project. All the little squares were 5X5 (this would work great with charms, I think I will try that next time:) Then I made the pockets by sewing 3 sides to 4-1/2 X 4-1/2 muslin squares. I stuffed them with the polyfil and sewed the 4th side together. I had a whole table full of puffy little bean bags. They were so colorful and fun!
Not the greatest pic, but you can see the little puffs!
Then I had to arrange all of them, I followed the directions in the PDF Tutorial. Instead of a square puff center, I did 4 extra rows of puffs and had 8 puffs X 12 puffs.
It was when I started sewing these beautiful puffs together that I realized this was no longer easy. It was a physical challenge! I was working on my old Kenmore sewing machine from the 1960s and was unable to purchase the special walking foot that is recommended. I think this is the quilt that made me realize I was ready for an upgrade!
I had a bit of trouble with the border, but I made it work with some minor adjustments.It wasn't as straight as I would like, but it looked fine to everyone, but me.
So there it is! It really did turn out so lovely, but it is very heavy. It matches Lincoln's room perfectly and although it is definitely not a baby blanket because of the weight, it will be great for crawling on and playing on as he gets a bit older. Writing this post is making me want to go make another one! I learned so many new things making that quilt and the Navy and Orange are just so fun.
I love this quilt. What an awesome idea. I attempted a high loft quilt a couple of months back and struggled with the quilting aspect. I would love to give this technique a shot!
ReplyDeleteThank you. The technique was very simple, it just got very heavy once I was quilting it. I forgot to mention in the blog post that I used muslin for the backside of the little puff pockets. The prints were 5X5 squares and 4-1/2X 4-1/2 muslin backsides.
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