Monday, September 3, 2012

Quilt in a day


I have been scrambling to finish a bunch of items to auction off at a fundraiser.  I posted earlier about how my cousin's baby was born very premature and is being hospitalized in another state.  The baby boy, Tuff we nicknamed him, is now (as of August 31) 3 lbs. 5 oz.!  He is coming along, but still has many more weeks left in the hospital.  Insurance only pays for so much, and with neither parent working, along with all the plane tickets and living expenses, you can only imagine the financial strain on this young couple.  My family and friends have rallied together to put on a fundraiser in September.  There will be food, door prizes, raffles, auctions, music, etc.  It will be a tremendous amount of fun for a worthy cause.  (I blogger previously about little Tuff HERE.  Please read that post and leave a comment.)
Tuff. 
One of the projects I decided to sew was a baby quilt.  Using only the fabric from my stash, I came up with four solids and a print for the front and a coordinating flannel for the back.  I cut out 10 inch squares and made HSTs using this method:
So I ended up with a bunch of HSTs that looked like this:


I played around with various pinwheel ideas for the longest time:

Until I finally settled on this fun chevron pattern:

I've made a chevron rag quilt using rectangles, but I like the HST version even better.  The hardest part was probably the machine quilting.  I had planned on adding a lot more quilting, but it was taking forever.  I finally announced "good enough" and went on to the binding.  I finished the edges with green polka dotted bias tape:


Amazingly enough, the quilt turned out pretty darn good.  I only had to fix one little pucker on the back side.   I also only had to trim a tiny bit to square up the edges. The corners of the binding turned out super neat and tidy.  All in all, it was a very successful project.  Here's the front:

For the back, I had enough train print flannel to cover the back, but I have needed to add another panel to make it wide enough.  Instead I used my leftover HSTs and and inserted them into a row in the middle.  Turns out the row of HSTs still didn't make it wide enough, so I had to add a few inches of  border to the edge.  It's not ideal, but it looks OK and it's all done.  That's what is important, right?  Here's a pic of the back:

I finished this quilt in 12 hours.  I did it in 3 four hour blocks of time so my kids didn't go hungry or start the house on fire.  My next project is to make a baby girl quilt.  Will I do it in 12 hours?  Well maybe, but I doubt I'll try to finish it in one day again.  That was a little crazy, even for me.


What projects have you finished lately?  What are you currently working on?  Do you have some suggestions for things I could craft or sew for this auction?

Happy crafting and big hugs from Montana,
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7 comments:

  1. What a darling quilt. You make it sound so simple that even I could make one!! I am sure that it would take me longer than 12 hours. I am glad that Tuff is tough and doing much better. Thank you for sharing with us. Hugs

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  2. As always you make something completely ordinary into something totally awesome! I will keep baby Tuff and family in my prayers. xo

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  3. How about pillows for your Auction, they don't take up nearly so much time as a quilt! Maybe as it is in September some Halloween themed items might be worth thinking about too. Good luck with the Auction it sounds like Tuff and his family need as much help as they can get at the moment.

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  4. A beautiful quilt, Rikka!!! Well done on making it totally from your stash. Good luck with the fundraiser.

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  5. Your quilt is beautiful! I'm so glad you posted the pictures and the instructions. Even though Tuff is tiny, he is adorable! I hope all goes well for the fundraiser. You are doing such a wonderful thing for this little family. :)

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  6. This is a great tutorial!! and it looks so easy I'm going to make one. Thanks!

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  7. Love it! Amazing that you did it in a day. Great quilt inspiration! Thanks for the tutorial.

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