Another one of those moments . . . Rag Quilt

Pinterest! Yea, I blame Pinterest. I saw some interesting and cute little quilts and thought to myself "Hhmmmm . . . I wonder if I could do that?" I looked on You Tube at a couple videos and then took the plunge.

First, it was off to the fabric store. This sounds easier that it was. The first store was a cute quilting store I found last year. I drove to it, only to find that it had closed. :( The locals told me where it went and off I went in search of it. I ended up in a neighborhood and decided I had misunderstood the heavily accented French/English. Off I go to a different store. Now by the time I get to the store, I have been driving for an hour and a half. Sigh. But its a store, and it has fabric. My goal was to make a rag lap quilt for MainMan as a little welcome home from his trip. And WHAT did I buy?

Yep, pink and green fabric. I couldn't help myself. It was cute and I was in a spring mood. This is flannel fabric. In the video it says to get 5 different coordinating flannel fabrics-half a yard of each. But that is for a little quilt. I wanted one that would cover a lap and feet too. So, I got a yard (actually a metre) of each.

Of course, one has to have the right tools. Cutting all the squares by regular scissors would be too time consuming as well as painful on the hands. I bought a new and "improved" rotary cutter, a mat, and a plastic ruler template thing. When I got home, I looked up the rotary cutter online and saw that it was to be used with a different plastic ruler thing. So, off I went back and exchanged them. There is a little groove/lip that keeps the cutter straight up against the ruler so the cutter doesn't get a mind of its own and goes off in the wrong direction.

While I was at the store, I decided to also get some fabric that would actually be more manly. Manchild suggested a different fabric. Gee, doesn't he think his dad would like pink and green? Anyway, I got the ruler and more fabric . . . and a spring loaded pair of scissors. These will be used to clip the edges after sewing to make the raggy, ruffle. I used to have some, but they were used for paper which we all know is not good for scissors that you want to use for fabric. And, also, I have no idea where they are.

I would have preferred Friskars, but that brand wasn't available. These cut well but the little latch at the bottom did tend to occasionally get in the way. Not sure if you are paying attention, but this cute and easy Pinterest project is now a cute and easy and expensive Pinterest project.

Time to cut the squares. The link said to make 8 inch squares. But my ruler was for 6 and 1/2 inch squares. So, its gonna be 6 1/2. Cut, cut, cut. The first few were a little slow and I was a little nervous about cutting myself. These rotary cutters are sharp. But once I got the hang of it, it was easy. Hint: Do NOT prewash fabric. And cut it as you bought it-don't open it-just leave it with the fold on top. You will be cutting through two pieces of fabric. This is cool cause it leaves the fabric ready to sew-wrong side together.

Once all the fabric is cut, its time to decide how to place it. It was suggested that I place the fabric on the floor or table and play with it. I thought, gee, I will take pictures of it and arrange it on the computer. And then I printed it out. But, once I started placing it, I realized that I didn't rotate any of the squares. So all the images and stripes were vertical. Let's rethink and relax on how things line up. Once I decided on how the squares will go together, I realized I missed a step. The site said to sew around each square. This will be two pieces of fabric- the top and the bottom. Sigh. So, I pick up all the squares, sew around the edges on each and then redid the placing on the table. THEN, I took the first row and pinned the squares together. I sewed that row and placed it back on the table to make sure I had the placing correct for the next row. This is an important step as one time I had flipped the row and would have had some of the same colors sewn together.

Once the rows are done, sew them together. One site said to do it in twos-so the first two rows, put the down and then sew the second two rows. Then sew the two sets together. This way you are now fighting the total quilt each time.

Once it is all sewn, the "fun" starts. You get to clip the edges. This is tedious as well as time consuming. It is really a TV watching, don't really think about it moment. The spring loaded scissors are a MUST here.

This is how it looks on the back.

Once the quilt is all clipped, time to wash. I did a cold water wash first. No fabric softener this time (not sure why but that is what is said). Into the dryer. They say to clean the lint trap twice during drying. Do it more than that. Check after 10 minutes and you will be surprised on how much is there. Dry it and then wash it normally (however normal is to you). Dry again and check the lint trap once or twice.

Next rag quilt will be for hubby, this one is for me. :)

Afghan is finished and he loves it

Now, I realize this is a little late. After all, manchild #1 received his afghan before Christmas. But, I didn't post a final picture for you. Earlier when I said it was half finished, I was wrong. More like a third finished. This was a learning project all around.
Let me just say, I had help with the afghan. I have learned to have a little ball of yarn beside me to throw across the room when the cats decide to help.

It was a shock to see how fast C can cut the yarn. 2 seconds flat! AArrrgghhhhhhhh. Again, that little ball of yarn really helped, since saying no didn't really do much.

When I realized that Nolan could take the afghan back to British Columbia the first week in December-I buckled down and knitted my brains out. I knew I have two weeks to finish it. I couldn't figure out why it was taking so much yarn. But once I took it off the loom I figured it out. I wanted it long-long enough to cover his feet and go up to his neck. So, the length was going to be about 6 feet. But when I took it off the loom, it ended up being 6 feet wide. OOOhhhh yeah, its big. And heavy. And did I say big? yeah, big!

He loves it and sleeps with it. And that, folks, is what makes it all worth it.