family snuggle quilt

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Whew. This has been the week of work. My mom was visiting a couple of weeks ago and-in a very kind way-mentioned that I seem to be starting a lot more projects than I'm finishing. It was good for me to step back and recognize that unfinished projects in my home and in my brain = chaos in my home and in my brain. So instead of making lots of fun harvest creations, I've had a week of what I like to call 'ketch-up'. Which was BOO HOO because there are so many fun harvest things I wanted to create, and Christmas as well! But it was YAY because I finished a lot of projects that have been waiting for me for ummmmmm.... we'll just say a long time.

Some of these projects included:

sewing a baby gift for my niece born in September,





 refurbishing a dresser I started in August,

 fabric watch bands for my mom and a friend and Our Princess promised in May,









and this quilt that I swiped from my mom in January. I was also able to start on a Christmas gift project that I can't wait to share (when they're finished, of course. Which may be next Christmas, so don't get too excited...)

Anyway, this quilt is a fun one!  I made it for my mom a couple of years ago for Christmas.   It has a block stitched for each member in our extended family, couples together, kids on their own. We've had a bit of a baby boom going on the last couple of years in our family, so I decided in January when I had some free time I could add them in so I brought it home to work on it.  And my excuse for not finishing it yet is because we've had two more babies born this year!!

The size of the blocks depend on how big you want the quilt to be and how many people are in your family. My blocks are around 8 inches.

I just hand-drew the simple basic shapes, dresses on girls and pants on boys, then as I stitched them, I added little embellishments to make each of them unique, trying to match hair color and type as best I could.  Count Studley is one of the favorites, as I only put hair on the sides of his head, leaving the top bald...
I put the names on each block as well, so the grandkids could each find their special block. 

This is My Angel's block.  Is she cute or what?

and the brand-newest addition to the fam!

Every other block is a stitched family member.  The other blocks are just raggy plaids and fun country-type prints.  We tend to lean in that direction in our family... I used the furry fleece for the back and that's what makes it fun and snuggly.  It is 'built' all at once, so the front and the back of each block are attached at the same time. I cut the squares for the back 2 inches bigger than the front blocks were, this is what gives the furry border in the front.



So, when your blocks are all cut out -my final blocks were 8 inches, and the furry back squares were 10 inches- lay it all out and decide the best placement of blocks.  (WARNING: that furry fleece is M.E.S.S.Y. I wouldn't recommend cutting or sewing it over carpet, just sayin!) I didn't keep families together, in fact, I made sure that the couples and kids were spread out randomly because I was sure that there would be additions to our family and didn't want it to look weird if I one day decided to add them in.

This is the only frustrating part of the whole process.  You have to take the front and back blocks, wrong sides together, pinned together,  and place it on the block that will be next to it, BACK sides together.  I just picked them up as I went from where I had them laid out.  You only have to stitch up the one side that connects the two blocks.  Then pick up the next block, and place it back to back with the one you just finished, making sure it matches up where you want it and is turned in the right direction. As you can see, I took absolutely 0 pictures.  I was too busy holding that fleece together... It is not easy to sew the furry fleece.  It slips and slides and sometimes gets caught in your machine if you don't keep the fur pushed out of the way while you are sewing.  Pins make a world of difference, and if you have a good machine and you pin it all together, it's not so bad.  I kept my seam 1/2 inch in from the front fabric, which left about an inch-ish of the furry fabric coming through.  After you have stitched a whole row together, start on the next.  Then use the same technique to line up rows back to back and pin, pin, pin to keep the squares lined up with each other because I promise you that baby will move!  The raggy edges give you some leeway for imperfection, though.  Mine is far from perfect!  But that's what makes it fun is the raggy.
When all the rows were sewed together, I stitched all the way around the edges of the quilt to secure them. Then I used the furry fabric to add a border around the edges to finish it off, which is also very forgiving.
I ended up adding on two more rows.  So I just un-picked the binding on one side and added the new rows there.  When I finished the binding on the add-on, I even pieced in little squares in a couple of spots because I was low on fabric, and it would take some serious seeking to find where I did it because of the furry fluff. My new blocks were a little bit smaller than the old ones and my mom will notice for sure.  But I'm pretty sure the grandkids won't, and it is soft and comfy and absolutely darling. Yes?

happy crafting!