Rag-Time Quilt

I have been wanting to learn to do this kind of quilt for a long time now. Bought the pattern ages ago, so decided to try it out finally. Friends of our family, Nick and Katy are having their first baby, so it seemed like a good idea to do a quilt for them. It was fun to learn a new thing. The instructions didn't have a cutting quide for the baby size, so I had to wing it. Cutting all the blocks below. Learned a lot about cutting.

Then is was time to put the little "quiltlet" blocks together. I used 9 different prints for the front and took one of the prints to use for the entire back. I had a flannel sheet I bought a while back (the leopard print) so because there was a lot of that one I used it to do a one print back. You can use any combination of prints you want. Katy is using orange and brown for her baby boy, so I did my best to find flannels that would go with her nursery.

Along with the tried and true adage "Measure twice, cut once" I add "pin alot and sew it once". Too true. The blocks are sewn diagonally corner to corner. You can eye-ball a straight line on the small blocks, but I had to mark the big ones. I wanted to do it the way the pattern instucted at least the first time. It was good advice. Below is what the small blocks looked like pinned.

Marking the blocks was easy. I had a washable ink fine line marker that has been sitting in my sewing drawer forever. I finally got to use it. There are only 18 big blocks in this quilt, to it went fast. Those blocks took a lot more pins, but I had no difficulty with shifting fabric. I don't have the right walking foot for my machine (I found out with this venture) so I will have to exchange it at the Bernina Store when I go home to visit again. They sold me the wrong one when I bought my machine, so I will get the right one soon. A walking foot enables mutiple layers of fabric to go through the machine as one layer. No shifting or crawling fabric from the top to the bottom. I am looking forward to getting the right foot for that.

Sewing the blocks didn't take too long either. I did all the small blocks first (68). Then did the 18 big blocks.

Below are what the blocks looked like with the x's sewn.

Now to start assembling the small blocks into 4-block squares. All the seams are 1" wide and are sewn on the right side, or top of the quilt. I tried to just do a random effect. I am so used to doing right sides together when doing seams, I did two sets before I realized my quilt would be backwards if I kept that up. I ripped out the seams and put wrong sides together so it would be correct. I hate it when my brain take a leave of absence and habit takes over.

Two sets done ready to make my first 4 square block. Now I just have to do that 16 more times. Sewing the 4 square blocks took the longest, but it was fun to make sure no two prints ended up together.

Now to layout the blocks to start the completion process. I tried to make sure the same prints did not end up side by side, but there are a few places where it just had to be. I didn't spend hours figuring it all out, just laid them out on the floor and went for it. I assembled one row at a time and then sewed the rows together. Didn't take as long as I thought it would. It gets fun now because you can start to see what the final project will look like.

Here is what it looked like all together with the fringe cut. After all the seams are sewn you cut at 1/2" to 3/4" intervals along the 1" seams. Lots and Lots of cutting. Making sure of course you don't cut through your seams. I did a little each day in front of the T.V. while talking to Tracy and Pop. Eventually it was all fringed. Now to wash it. Not in my apartment washer. This is where Tracy and I went to one of the local laundromats to wash it for the first time. Lots of fraying that first time through the machines. There were a lot of threads in the washer. I can only imagine what the lint trap in the dryer must have looked like. The washable marker was washable. Good thing. I was a bit worried about that.

The finished product! All soft and nice for Nick and Katy's little baby to sleep on or under. I have enough of the fabrics left to do a strip rag quilt too. I called Malea, who has made several of those and got her how-to's. Maybe I can get my act together and get another one done for them. You just can never have too many baby quilts. I'm going to try some of those cute customized burp clothes next with some of the scraps. I wish I had done this for all my grandkids. I did a few quilts for them, but didn't have as much time as I do now. Fortunately Nana was still sewing and did lots of baby quilts for our new babies. I hope I can still sew when great grandkids hit the scene. I'll have even more time then (maybe) and can sew for them like Nana did for us.

Now I am ready to start some bigger versions of this kind of quilt for my grandkids who are not babies anymore. The ones that are big enough can help me and maybe learn a thing or two. Now if I could just live a little closer to them all…