Quilts for Good Friends

Some friends recently adopted three boys from the Ukraine and I decided to make snuggle quilts for each of them. Of course, when they left for the Ukraine the plan was to bring back two children but they surprised everyone with three (under the age of four!). As the two older boys are twins I made two alphabet quilts for them and the frog one for their little brother. These are about crib sized.

Dates: April - June 2007

Fabrics: Hungry Animal Alphabet II & Circus Menagerie by Janet Wecker-Frisch from South Sea Imports for the two alphabet quilts and Ribbit! by Signature Classics from Oakhurst Textiles (who does not have a website but Bear Paw Quilting has good pictures).

Lessons learned: Having never sewn a quilt before, the whole thing was a learning process. I had already pieced all three tops before I even stumbled on the not-binding technique. I think this is called a pillowcase binding or an envelope binding. I'm still not sure but I really like it. Also, don't try to cut this many quilt squares with scissors. Using clear acrylic quilters' rulers helped but my fingers were aching from the scissor usage. Also, the frog one was pieced first when I had no idea about fabric grain. I just grabbed squares willy-nilly and sewed them together. Nothing was square. Total nightmare. Then I learned about fabric grain and the alphabet squares were a dream by comparison.