Four quilts and an Otter

I think it was back in June when I promised the Eldest that I would convert four pre-printed panels into quilts as she had friends having babies. No problem, due dates were July to Sept. And then there was this panel I picked up at the Whale’s Tail in Ketchikan last year? Year before? If I was going to mess with one, why not do them all…

I am totally and completely a fan of soft and completely sturdy and washable when making something for infants or toddlers. Heirloom items are an extravagance that most parents of infants and small children just don’t have the time and effort to cope with – and so either get destroyed or stuck on a shelf. I am a fan of something that gets worn out from being dragged about and washed to pieces.

Anyway – I found polar fleece for the panel and could find nothing for the baby quilts. Everything I found either was extremely expensive or not the right size. Then I stumbled on a couple of sets of “make it yourself” polar fleece blankets of the kind where you cut and not fringe. I have done that once and my hands hurt for days. But over a couple of trips to JoAnns I scored two sets on sale 50% off.

I think it might have been August when Miriam helped me for a day with trimming and pinning before I did some basic quilt in the ditch. Then it was a hunt for binding. Waited till it went on sale and purchased enough…..  then I procrastinated, took a couple of cruises. Yesterday I went hunting for the binding. Could NOT find it anywhere.  Probably the only good thing about the hunt was that I cleaned a bit more in my craft room.  Today I stopped at JoAnns and rebought the binding.

And, you guessed it – when clearing off cords before setting up the sewing machine .. this pile when moved

revealed

Miriam once again pitched in with pinning and trimming – so we have

and otter and friends….