I’m happy to share the two quilts I finished before Christmas! When the internet doesn’t cooperate, things get delayed a day.

First is the baby quilt for my newest Great Nephew. It is a simple flannel quilt made of squares with a yummy Cuddle backing. I used flannel for the binding. YES, the binding does wave a bit. It will relax once it is washed again. I tend to pull when I put on a binding by machine. I know I do it and try hard not to. But, I know it will shrink back into place when it has been washed. (thank goodness!!) It will be well used and loved! My niece, the mom, is happy to have the baby’s quilt, as his big brother was not a fan of sharing his quilt I had made a few years ago. So precious! It was fun to include fabrics from the baby’s sister’s quilt and his cousin’s baby quilt!

The second quilt I made was for my first nephew. His “baby” quilt was given 27 years ago!!! He was 3 years old when he got his quilt and all those years of love has the quilt seeing better days. He loved his flannel quilt so I “replaced” the quilt. Still flannel, but just simple squares (like his nephew just got!) I must confess, I made this second quilt in a day. <grin> I had a couple layer cakes, so I picked favorites from the stacks and arranged them is diagonal rows. It went together quickly! A flannel back and binding with Winline’s Bamboo batting made this quilt a great feel and weight. Actually both quilts have the Bamboo batting! My favorite! Sorry for the blurry photo, it has been sent through a number of different devices.

Both quilts were given before Christmas! I know they will have years of love in their future.

I have tips to share from each quilt…

#1 – The baby quilt has a flannel double fold binding, so the mitered corners got a bit thick. When turning the corner it was a lot of flannel to get moved under the presser foot. To help “move” it along, I put a pin into the side of the layers and now I have a “lever” to help push the thickness as I sew down the next side. I have done this for years and it works well. The key is to NOT push the with more force than what the feed dogs can pull the fabric through. You don’t want to mis-align the needle….it will break if it gets pushed out of line with the hole in the plate that covers the bobbin area.

#2 - The red/blue/gray squares quilt has a back to front binding. I cut the backing 1″ beyond the edge of the quilt to make a 1/2″-ish binding. Flannel is thick, so when folding the cut edge of the backing to the edge of the top and again over the edge it takes up some space. I left the basting threads in until the top stitching of the binding was complete. It helped the quilt top edge stay in place.

With the cooler/cold/freezing weather upon us, it is a great time to make a flannel quilt!

in quilting,

Debbie