Easy Little Quilts (aka An Exacting Lesson)

Sure, I've quilted before. In the past I've free-formed some log cabin blocks and managed to cobble together something that resembles a quilt. Totally passable to the untrained eye. But were my blocks all measured perfectly? No. Did I rush through and fudge some stuff here and there? Yes.

Admittedly, I have a lot to learn.

I decided to do a little experiment. The kids needed some lap blankets for long car rides so I thought I'd try an even simpler variation on the Take-Along-Quilt from Craft Hope. This is how I simplified:

• Each quilt consists of a single yard of fabric on each side with a thick wool batting in between
• Window-pane quilt it with 6" squares
• Bind with a coordinating fabric using my new handy-dandy bias tape tool
• Use same bias tape to make tie closure for rolled-up quilt

I'm sort of addicted to making my own bias tape binding now.

Keeping the design simple, I was able to focus on the one thing that has been a challenge on my previous quilts. Being exact. Cutting fabric, trimming, marking, quilting...all those places where measuring and squaring is important. Actually, it all went pretty well. My little quilts are quite square and as a result the binding went on pretty painlessly. Gee, I guess it makes sense to take your time and do things right. (The words of my mother are haunting me.)

I love the process of hand-finishing the binding.

What's next? I have a little boy graduating into a big boy bed. I think a real quilt is in order. And I'm pretty excited about it.

One quilt down...one to finish.

 –Cassandra