Quilty for a Cutie…

Let's be clear, I'm not a professional quilter by an stretch of the imagination. I'm an ok quilter at best. I never learned to quilt from anyone, never took a class, anything I know is gleaned from others online and on YouTube. So, there you have it, no judging of my quilting skills, or lack thereof. But, I do enjoy making them!

Past attempts can be seen in these links:
The First One Made (scroll down, it's in there)
Quilt for Little Man
Harmony's Blankie Quilt
For Big Girl
Sister Quilts
Doll Quilts

A couple of years ago, my sister sent me a box of vintage linens. Hankies, pillowcases, dish towels, etc. I never really knew what to do with them until I found inspiration in this, this and this via Pinterest. (all are pinned on my "Green" board) So, I decided that my sweet little niece (see Sister Quilt link above) needed another, larger quilt from me for her Thanksgiving Day birthday.

To begin, I grabbed the box my sister sent and some other vintage linens I have been collecting and selected my favorites…

 Many of them were very thin…

 I ironed on interfacing to make them stronger. I used Pellon 950F.

 Some pieces had stains and holes, I cut around all of that…

 Here are two of my favs, how sweet is that duck?

Then I raided my vintage fabric stash, grabbing everything the least bit girlie…

I decided to use mainly small floral prints to highlight the large graphics on the hankies…

I like to iron all my fabrics and put them on a drying rack until I cut them…

While ironing them, I make a mental note of any stains or tears that need to be cut around…

I love this piece of vintage fabric I have been saving for just the right project. Isn't it adorable? I will fussy cut the areas that I want for the quilt…

I got to cutting. Here is what I do. I pick a height, in this case, 6 inches. I make all the pieces that height and vary the width from 2.5 - 6 inches. I like the randomness of it AND I'm not worried about lining anything up. My kind of quilt!

 You can see the variation in width on each of the piles…

Then, I laid out the pieces that would be the center of the quilt and played around with them. I really liked all the animals, scenes, etc. but felt there was too much white. I needed some contrast in between these blocks. Due to the size of the hankies, these blocks are 8 inches high.

I went through my cutting scraps and started sewing some of them together. I cleaned up the edges and cut pieces that were 8 inches high by about 2 inches wide.

I put them in between the large blocks. Much better…

I then started grabbing pieces off the stacks and making rows above and below. I stand back once in a while and make sure I don't have too much of one color in an area…

Now the sewing will commence. I mean who wouldn't want to make a quilt for this cutie??

I promise to show you the finished product. Hopefully before Thanksgiving! Teresa