Here Fishy Fishy

My daughter wanted a fish rag quilt for her son (our first grandson).  I'm not creative at all so I had to find a pattern.  The only one I could find was for a clown fish, Simplicity pattern #3955

I wanted to take that clown fish and try to make it look something like this:

I know I'm not skilled enough to change the pattern so I just changed the colors.  I also used flannel instead of fleece. This is my version:

I'm happy with how he turned out, my daughter is happy and my grandson loves him!

Happy sewing!

Lori

Car Seat Quilt

I've been tossing around an idea in my head for a while, trying to come up with a quilt for my grandson's car seat that he couldn't constantly kick off.  I got my inspiration from http://www.modabakeshop.com/2012/02/sophie-car-seat-quilt.html    After trying several different ideas, this is the final design.

 I wanted it to be warm and cozy since it was going to be used in winter.  The fabric I chose was left over from several other projects.  All the fabric is soft and cuddly and also difficult to sew.  Every time I sew with minky or any of that soft, stretchy, cuddly fabric, I swear I'm never going to sew with it again....but I always end up loving the final product and decide it wasn't so bad after all. 

 I wanted to make the quilt a quilt as you go (QAYG).  I thought it would be quicker and easier with this fabric.  I cut my backing approximately  30 inches by 35 inches since I wanted the finished quilt to be about 25x30.  I cut the batting the same 30x35.  For my strips, I cut varying widths making sure I had enough to go the length of the quilt.  I laid the first piece down and sewed across the top close to the edge.  Then I laid the next piece right sides together on the bottom edge of the first fabric, sew and fold down, repeating this process until the batting is covered.   Missouri Star Quilt Company has a great tutorial https://quiltingtutorials.com/tutorial/how-to-quilt-as-you-go

Use lots of pins with this fabric, it likes to move!

Almost done!

Last strip added and sides trimmed.

 The Moda Bakeshop tutorial used ties to attach the quilt to the car seat.  I was afraid they would come undone or take too long to tie and untie so I used velcro and made wider tabs instead.  I made the tabs about 1/12 inches wide by 5 inches long.  I measured around the handle of the car seat to get a length I felt worked.  I'm sure each car seat may be a little different.

I measured down about 13 inches and sewed the tabs close to the edge of the quilt.

 Things I learned from making this quilt:

Basting spray is your friend.

Pin, Pin, Pin.

Using a walking foot makes sewing this so much easier.

Binding with minky is no fun.


Let me know what you think of my car seat quilt

Happy sewing,

Lori

Jelly Roll Race

A couple years ago my youngest daughter made a jelly roll race quilt for me for Christmas.  I actually helped her make it thinking the whole time she was making it for herself.  Imagine my surprise when I opened my present on Christmas and it was the quilt she had worked so hard on for several months!

My son commented at the time that he really liked my quilt and several months later mentioned it again and said he would love to have me make one for him.  We actually sat down at the computer and I had him look at lots of different fabrics.  I discovered he liked the civil war type fabrics.

I picked out Georgetown by Judie Rothermel for Marcus Fabrics. I quilted it on my domestic machine, stitching in the ditch...well mostly in the ditch.  

I gave it to him for Christmas this past year and he loves it.  This is the only picture I managed to take before he whisked it away.  His bed is a queen size and this is a little small so of course I have a request to make him another quilt!