When I first started quilting, about 8 years ago. I went on a flannel kick. A very large flannel kick. I was obsessed with it and was thrilled to find that flannel was cheap. Unfortunately, it took a couple years to realize that cheap flannel is just that. Regardless, the few “all flannel” quilts I’ve made have held together relatively well, despite being rather faded. Since then I’ve learned that investing in better quality fabrics is worth the cost.
Unfortunately, that flannel kick left me with quite a few left overs which have been sitting in my stash. This weekend, I decided to let the kids go to town and pick what they liked and generally describe how they would want a quilt made out of flannel to look.
We ended up with a slab quilt (my first).
For the back, I used a sort of experimental/accidental top I made a few years ago. It’s been waiting to find it’s other half.
As far as quilting goes, I did a simple grid and didn’t use batting, to keep it lightweight. I’ll bind it with a scrappy binding using up the last bits and pieces. I figured this would turn out to be a good picnic/beach blanket for my oldest son. It’s very bright and busy – a happy kind of quilt. And best of all, it blew through almost all of my “boy” scraps of flannel and a WIP to boot.
I have yet to draft my daughters play quilt with the “girl” flannels that are left in the stash.
We’ve set up my old sewing machine in our studio/workspace for my kids to practice on. There is a certain inevitability to this picture.
On a different note, I’ve joined another quilt-along and I can’t wait to start. Amanda, from “
A Crafty Fox“, is hosting a “Star Flower Quilt Along”. I adore stars and can’t wait to see how this goes. I’ve decided to use the every other color scheme and alternate polka dots with my stash of “Happy Go Lucky” (my current favorite line), and a few prints from another fave line, “Avalon”. I was astonished to find, upon inspection, SO MANY polka dots in my stash (and still not quite enough). I’ll be slicing into these stacks today.
Yum!
