Cozy Quilt For Dad

Quilt Completed December 2020

Either side works as the top of the quilt!

My dad wondered if I could make a quilt for him that was super cozy - especially because he loves throwing open the bedroom windows during chilly Wisconsin winter nights. This was a fun project to do from beginning to end. And now that it’s done and delivered, I understand it’s just what Dad had hoped! So pleased!!!

Here is how this quilt came together. The project started by doing some research on available fabrics. I’d never sewn a quilt with anything but quilting cotton, so I was happy to find Woolies - a cotton flannel fabric (this by Bonnie Sullivan for Maywood Studios). It is a soft, sturdy fabric that’s quite easy to sew and quilt. It was perfect for this quilt!

Sizzix to the rescue!

Instead of cutting LOTS of 4” squares by hand, I decided to pull out my Sizzix - a die-cutting machine. Using this machine to cut fabric assured that all of the oodles of 4” squares that were incorporated into this quilt were perfectly square - making all the difference when joining pieces - straight lines and exact measurements make all the difference in the success of how the quilt comes together. For the larger squares used in the quilt, I cut those using my rotary cutter.

I don’t have any pictures of the process of laying out the colors, but I moved around the 4” and 8” squares (usually on my sewing room floor) until I was satisfied with the layout. The only rule I had for the design was to alternate an 8” square with a 4-4” square block. Once I had the blocks in the spots where I liked them best, I simply sewed the blocks into rows, and then sewed rows to each other to complete the quilt top.

Mimi, then Navi, and finally Phoenix gave their stamp of approval on design (but we all know it's really because of the flannel top and wool batting)!

For the back of the quilt, I used two larger pieces of one of the fabrics I had used in the blocks on the front and then stitched a strip of scraps to place between those to larger pieces.

I used a wool batting between the quilt top and back. I decided to simply quilt the quilt using a diagonal straight stitch (corner to corner) through the blocks.

Marking quilt with painter's tape for straight lines. Mimi helps with taping, and Phoebe interrupted quilting to take a nap in the quilt!

Finally, I used the same fabric as the back fabric for the binding and attached it using a wiggling top stitch.

Because I had a fair amount of fabric remaining, I decided to whip of a couple of pillow cases to complement the quilt.

Back and front of pillows

And last bit is a quilt label done by hand and stitched to back corner of the quilt.