We get tons of emails from our readers. Sometimes they have questions, sometimes their kind words make us blush, and sometimes they simply WOW us! This falls into the category of WOWing us!
I got this email from Jane:
I thought you might be interested in the blanket I made as a Christmas present for my eight year old granddaughter. I made it with your free appliques on fleece. It turned out beautifully, and have had rave reviews. I’m very proud of it!
I used one block for my “personal signature”. I took a piece of my daughter’s wedding dress lining material, cut it into the shape of an unrolled scroll, sewed it onto the blanket, then used a permanent marker to write a personal message, write the year, and signature from Oma & Opa.
For fun, I also put a “secret code” in the blanket from me to my granddaughter:
Cupcake = You add sweetness to my life
Stars = You brighten my life
The last row, I sewed together person/heart/person and then the scroll. The person/heart/person stood for “Oma loves Mikayla”. She seemed to enjoy the idea.
And after we asked for permission to share this on the blog, we got this response:
After all the months I worked on this blanket, I would be honored to have you share it with your readers! I’m so pleased you think it worthy. There is one hitch, though. I’d like you to tell me when you have it posted so I can see it “on the web!” and read any comments you receive. No, I don’t have a blog.
By the way, I had never appliqued or embroidered before. Nor had I ever made a quilt. This was all new to me. The computer was my teacher.
If the blanket wasn’t impressive enough, the fact that Jane has NEVER appliqued, embroidered OR made a quilt before should be sufficient incentive for any beginning crafters that are apprehensive of tackling big projects!
We are very grateful that Jane took the time to share her project. We get so many emails from people saying they love our appliques but are looking for ideas on how to use them. Well, if you are ambitious enough, here is a lovely idea. A beautiful, heirloom quilt, filled with love, and sure to be treasured by one lucky little lady for a lifetime!
If you have any comments or questions for Jane, please feel free to leave them. I’m sure she would enjoy hearing from you!
Confession time. I don’t craft yet I come to your site. Weird I know. I just love to look and dream. I love seeing how involved you r with your children. Maybe some day I think if I ever have kiddos of my own or a house. But looking at this quilt and thinking that she never did this kind of crafting before makes me think I should be adventerous and actually make some of your crafts hehe! It is a very nice quilt and thank you for sharing. Your site always inspires me, I think it finally motivated me!
Jane, your quilt is really adorable! I’m sure your granddaughter will cherish this for a long, long time. Good for you!
I have a question, actually a few. I’ve been thinking about doing the same thing. I was going to use cotton but because I didn’t want to worry about laundering felt. But seeing it in fleece is brilliant.
So my questions!
1. The blocks here are 6″ x 6″. Did you keep them the same size or make them bigger? Did you all a seam allowance?
2. How wide were your borders?
3. How many blocks did you use?
4. What was your finished size?
5. What did you back it with?
LOL. I know there are a lot of questions but I bet lots of other people are wondering the same thing!
The quilt is beautiful and it looks so huggable. Congratulations on making such a lovely heirloom!
XOX
Summer Holgan
Thank you so much, Summer, for your interest!
My blocks were 8″x8″. I thought 6″x6″ blocks would entail too much work (more blocks to applique), and would be too small for a blanket (too much repetition; too busy).
My seam allowances were 1/4″, which is believe is standard for a quilt.
All my sashings (the green fabric between each block) and the borders were 3″ each.
The finished blanket had 25 blocks total: 5 blocks across; 5 blocks down.
The finished blanket was approximately 59″x59″ square.
5 x 8″ blocks = 40″
4 x 3″ sashings = 12″
2 x 3″ borders = 6″ (side borders OR top and bottom
borders)
2 x 1″ binding = @1″ (again, side borders OR top and
bottom borders)
_______
59″
(I’m so proud of myself. I didn’t know any of these terms when I first started this project!)
I backed the blanket with soft, warm, cozy fleece. It felt so good I wanted to keep it for myself!
I hope my explanation is clear. I’d be happy to answer any other questions you might have. Don’t hesitate. I had lots of questions, and other people helped me. As they say, “pass it on.”
Jane
I love the blanket. There are always cute things for girls and never enough for boys. This idea is perfect. Thankds
Beautiful quilt and use of the applique blocks on fleece. This will be a cherished handmade gift.
What a lovely photo of you and your granddaughter, Jane. Just another thing for her to squirrel away! I can’t believe this is your first attempt. You should feel proud. I noticed you repeated some of the applique blocks. Did you pick out ones that you thought your granddaughter would like or did you have her help you pick? Love your choices. I’ve always been partial to those 3 stacking birds.
Your comments are heartwarming, Shelby. Thanks.
Yes, my granddaughter, Mikayla, is beautiful. (She takes after me (joke!)). But then grandmothers are never biased, are they.
No, I didn’t ask my granddaughter what she liked. She lives in North Carolina and we live in Colorado. Although we did fly to NC to spend Christmas with her, and I wanted the blanket to be a surprise.
I did get guidance from her dad, who said she likes all things in nature. I did include some appliques that would be part of the “secret code”, i.e. “you are the apple of my eye”, the cupcake and stars were for sweetness and light in my life, I had a butterfly for good luck, and the heart for love, of course.
I also included appliques of things that I enjoy. I’m quite a gardener and love flowers and birds and trees. My thought was that when she sees these appliques she will remember me (esp. after I’m gone). (Always looking ahead!)
You mentioned the three stacking birds. I think they are sweet, too. They were great because they were quick and easy. In the beginning, my thought was to concentrate on appliques that would, comparatively, take less time to finish. Although, I don’t think I was too successful at that!
So, there’s a multi-answer to a simple question. (Sorry!)
Jane, you go girl!!!! That rocks!!! That is something she can treasure and pass down to her kids. Awesome :):) 🙂
WOW… that is absolutely awesome! I love the idea, and I love how it turned out!!
That is so glorious! I love the colors you used against the dark green background. I just wondered if you used fleece for all the appliques too or just for the background fabric?
Thanks for your kind words, Guest. They are very much appreciated.
I used fleece for all the appliques. Using fleece does make it a bit difficult to push the needle through the fabric on thicker parts of an applique, i.e. the “Valentine Peonies” where there are three layers of fleece to stitch through. However, the peonies, and a few others, are the exception, and the areas to be stitched aren’t that big.
Let me know if you have any other questions. I’ll do the best I can to answer them.
Jane
Well done, Jane! Absolutely gorgeous! I can’t believe you did that as a beginner – it’s just lovely.
Kudos to Jane for an awesome first quilt. And thank you Kimara for sharing this story.
I just have to say thanks, Jane. I’m a long time Wee Folk Art reader, but I’ve never tried a single block! Seeing your beautiful results is quite encouraging!
That is an amazing quilt. The fact that this is your first time makes it rather unbelievably good. The fact that this is a gift for your granddaughter and you added so many special personal touches makes it all over the top perfect!
~Amanda
Bravo Jane! You’ve given us all inspiration to try something new.
Amazing ! Thank you for sharing Jane 🙂 What a great inspiration.
i can’t believe jane had never done this before!! it is just beautiful and a very special and heart felt gift to be treasured for many years. bravo!
This is absolutely beautiful! Great job!
I do have a couple questions. Did you use a wool felt, a blend, or a synthetic? Also, have you washed the quilt? Just wondering how well it holds up to washing. Would love to do this for my kids and can’t wait to get started.
She mentioned that is was done out of fleece which would make it very washable and would stand up to anyting a child could throw at it.
Thanks, Karen, for helping me out. I had glanced at Tina’s note, but didn’t have a chance to answer her questions right away. It took me some time to get back to her, and I was concerned Tina might think I was ignoring her. You took the pressure off me when you alerted her that the blanket was fleece, not felt. (I’ve made the fleece/felt mistake more than once myself.) I was able to wait to write Tina after I had a chance to organize my thoughts. You done good, girl!
Jane
Tina, I used two different brands of fleece–both 100% polyester. I chose not to purchase “anti-pill” fleece as I was told the quality of the non-anti-pill was better. I bought “Blizzard” fleece from Joann Fabrics, and “Northern Lights” fleece from a local fabric store. These brands were the best “craft” fleece (as opposed to polar fleece, i.e. for winter jackets) I could afford. If I didn’t state this clearly, let me know.
I did wash the fleece–twice. Once after I had completed the blocks before I put the blocks together, and then again when I had completed the blanket and wanted it to be fresh and clean for boxing and wrapping for Christmas. No problem at all.
I washed the blocks by hand with Woolite and cold water. I washed the finished blanket in the washing machine on “delicate” cycle, and “hang dry” setting, again using Woolite and cold water. I then draped the blanket over the bathroom shower curtain rod to dry overnight. Good as new!
Jane
Tina, I should have added that I will be holding good thoughts for you as I imagine you creating your own personal treasure for your children. If you have any questions and think I could be of any help, I’d be happy to offer any verbal assistance I can.
Enjoy!
Jane
Thanks! I guess I assumed you had used felt for the squares since that’s what they use so often on this blog. Good to know the details of what you used and where you found it. I have 3 kids (so far) so if they all are getting one I better get started! Thanks for the example and encouragement.