Since You Asked: The Quilt Recipe

Unabashed Joy has asked for the quilt "recipe" (thank you for asking, Erica! I love your new haircut, and your kitten looks like our sweet Liger), so I am going to post it here. It's easy, but since I am a sewing simpleton, I made the directions the way I would need them: detailed. Please feel free to adapt them to your own way of working; I want you to have fun! Ask any questions you might have, and I will answer them as soon as possible.

To make one quilted blanket, you will need:
« 1 yard Cotton Flannel
« 1 yard Cotton Quilting Fabric, color-coordinated with the flannel
« 1 package Wright’s Satin Blanket Binding 4.75 yds. (4.35 m), 100% polyester, color-coordinated with the fabrics
« 1 yard of ¾ to 1” thick Batting (not cotton)
« Thread to match

Wash and dry both pieces of fabric. You may want to iron them after washing, and trim the loose threads. If one piece is larger than the other, lay that piece, right-side down, on your work surface. Smooth it out from the center to the edges; place the batting on top of it. Lay the other piece of fabric on top of the batting, right side up; smooth out the wrinkles.

Pin all 3 layers together in 4 or 5 random places in the middle. Trim the edges so that the 3 pieces are all the same size, and pin each corner of the fabric together.

Unwrap the satin binding. Starting at one corner of the quilt, pin the binding around each side, with the points of the pins facing the outside edge of the blanket. When you come to a corner, fold the binding to make the turn (a mitred corner). You are sandwiching the 2 layers of fabric and the batting between the 2 layers of the satin binding. Pin all four sides of the quilt into the blanket binding. When you come to the end of the blanket binding, turn the end of the binding under and pin it to overlap smoothly.

Using a strong zigzag stitch, sew along the edges of the binding, all of the way around the blanket. Check the underside of the binding to be sure that you are capturing it as you are sewing the top. When you get to the end of the blanket binding, you may stitch it closed, or finish it as you like, to make a clean seam.

In the center of the quilt, stitch by machine (or by hand) where your pins are tacking the three layers in place. Do this at least 5 times, evenly around the quilt, to keep the batting from shifting with wear (and with love and washing).

Katie used her quilt as:

*a reminder of home (this photo is during her first round of chemo, in the ICU, with Nurse Heather);

*a tent, to hide under, & sometimes to feign sleep with;

(here she is a few weeks later, checking her email on the SCCA ward, after the chemo had started to make her hair fall out)

*a mask, to block smells that bothered her;

the quilt is barely visible --under the big pink/purple blanket from Corinna-- in this photo with David & the Seahawks, but it's there!)

*a lap blanket, to warm her legs when in the car or a wheelchair;

*a wrap, like a pashmina, to keep her upper body warm;

*a comforter (here she is on the surgery ward, in the BEST HOSPITAL ROOM EVER, almost ready to go home, nearly 6 weeks after her surgery);

*a blinder, to avoid sights she disliked (such as hypodermic needles);

*a bathrobe, over her pjs (this is David, Katie and Nurse April, helping Katie to walk after her surgery);

*a distraction, studying its pattern (the state flowers of all the U.S.), instead of watching procedures.

I'm sure there are more uses than these. Kids are creative!

Thank you for your interest in Katie's Quilters. Feel free to spread the word, and share the pattern!