Three Quilts for Three Musketeers

The assignment was simple - Make a quilt from old baby clothes.
The tricky part - Not one, not two, but three quilts.

Getting the fabric ready for a t-shirt (or onesie) quilt is a slow, labored process.
The painful (for me) part of the whole process is cutting up perfectly nice and cute baby clothes.  It generates a lot of trash - seams, buttons, zippers and oddly shaped fabric slivers.

Aligning fabric pieces on SF101

The tedious part - interfacing each piece of salvaged fabric.  This is slow, because I cannot hurriedly iron over it. Holding the iron down in each section for 8-10 seconds is a must to ensure that the interfacing adheres to the fabric properly. This is followed by squaring each of the above interfaced pieces. And only then can I start to piece.

Design Wall for Layout

SF101 is a must. Design wall is a savior. And most importantly patience is a virtue.

But let's get to the fun part. The finished quilts. These are the three quilts for three siblings (or musketeers).
Quilt #1

Finished about 41" by 44"

Personality Plus

Fly away

Hop to it

Dude with 'tude

All cuteness

Wild one

Bold & Boyish

Polar Bear backing from Hawthorne Threads

Walking Foot Quilting

Quilt #2

Finished about 43" by 46"

Bird & Beautiful

Pink and Pinker

Aw...

Brightest Slippers ever

Rooting for the team

May the best team win

I love you too

Fluffy Plus

Sweetness

Cuteness

Brightness

Loveliness

Labelled

Walking Foot Quilting

Quilt #3

Finished about 41" by 42"

Snappy

So much fun

Puppies and Turtles

Adorable

And I am no wimp

Orange, Coral and Yellow - Love the colors

Monkeys make everything better

A baby elephant adds to the charm

Yay for the team!!!

Navy & Starry Backing

Walking Foot Quilting

Bound and Done

If you choose to make a t-shirt quilt or a quilt from onesies and baby clothes, these are a few important things
1. Use a walking foot even for piecing because the knit fabric + interfacing = bulk.
2. Press ALL seams open.
3. Use a wider binding. Instead of using 2.5" strips, I suggest using 2.75" strips. A little extra width helps capture those bulky seams with ease.

But quilts is not all I made from the baby clothes. I knew I would have fabric left over for three small pencil cases  - one for each musketeer.

Three Pencil cases for Three Musketeers

Ready for Stuff

Also I had plenty of fabric to make three pillow covers.  I chose to use binding to finish, instead of just stitching RST and turning it inside out. Yes, it takes more work but I wanted to do the very best for this mom of three.

Three Pillow covers

Pink Binding

I had a feeling that if the pillow covers did not have a pillow form inside, they may just be sitting in a closet and not get used.  To make sure that items could be used instantly, I bought pillow forms and inserted in each of the covers.  Besides fluffy pillows also look better in photoshoots :-D

Envelope Style

Soft and Ready to Cuddle

Is that all?  Well, almost.
Still some pieces were left and they were too precious to discard, since they already had the interfacing. So, I finished off with a few mug rugs.

Mug Rugs

And a very good morning to you!!!

I was paid handsomely for all my efforts. The best part, however, was the smile on mom's face.
Mission Accomplished.
I will be linking with all my favorite lanky parties.  As always, I'd love to hear from you.
Which one is your favorite quilt?

The Quilt of Pi

Ever since I got into quilting, finding time to read has been difficult.  When I am not working or running errands, I am mostly sewing and by the time I get to bed, I can barely keep my eyes open.  Therefore the discovery of audiobooks has been an absolute joy.  I can listen while I sew!!!

It is a finish

My last audiobook was "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel.  It is a fantastic book and I loved every word of it. Here is my favorite quote from the book.

"Hindus, in their capacity for love, are indeed hairless Christians, just as Muslims, in the way they see God in everything, are bearded Hindus, and Christians, in their devotion to God, are hat-wearing Muslims."

Oh, I wish I could convey how much I love these words.
Whereas we too often focus on our differences and let those difference divide us, this one sentence in a funny, simple, and heart-warming way says that we are all the same in our capacity for love, devotion and surrender to God.

These words make me want to go hug the world and everyone in it.  So, I made a quilt.

Fabric Scraps (from the free table at the guild meeting)

They say that one man's meat is another man's poison. Fabrics scraps abandoned by one quilter are a goldmine for me. Thanks to the free table at the guild meetings.

These turquoise and red scraps (left at the free table) beckoned to me. I added some fabric from my own stash and tried to construct 5" squares and 5" by 2.5" rectangles from the scraps.

Piecing into 5" squares

I used this pattern from Elizabeth Hartmann to make a baby quilt. The dark teal/aqua solid came from my stash.

Finished at 41" by 43"

...and back

The backing is so adorable.  Recently acquired this piece from a friend who is destashing. The wavy lines made for a fast and easy quilting.

Winnie the Pooh as a Fire Chief

Turquoise & Red

Striped Binding is my favorite

The red and white striped binding works beautifully with both the front and the back.

Did I forget the label?

Can you see it?

Do you see it now?

There it is :-)

Love this shot!

And then Paul began to read the post from behind my shoulder.

Paul: Does the book "Life of Pi" have anything to do with this quilt?
Me: Dunno. Maybe Pi could have used a quilt to comfort him.
Paul: Maybe.
Me: Maybe the turquoise blue of the quilt represents the ocean, the pink and the red represent the life (life of Pi and also Richard Parker's) and the cream could represent the boat that carried them both for almost seven months.
Paul: I know that you can quilt, but boy can you spin a yarn!
Me: You can call me a Quilter or a Spinner of Yarn. But I am calling this the Quilt of Pi.

Quilt of Pi

Paul: But what do these words - hairless Christians, bearded Hindus, and hat wearing Muslims - have anything to do with this quilt?
Me: Don't you agree that the overarching themes of the book are survival and belief in God?
Paul: I agree.
Me: So you see my point.
Paul: I don't.
Me: Well, Pi could neither see Jesus or Allah. Yet, he was a believer.
Paul: I still don't get the connection to the quilt.
Me: Well, do you like the quilt?
Paul: It is nice.
Me: Did you like the book - Life of Pi?
Paul: I only saw the movie. 
Me: That is why you don't get it. Aren't you getting late for your game?
Paul: Oh yes. Gotta go.

That was how that discussion ended. But our discussion has just begun. I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas, as always.  I will be linking with all my favorite linky parties. See full list on the sidebar.