TGIFF: R’s Pattern

• • 28 Comments

Welcome to TGIFF! Thanks for joining us this week!

A year and a half ago I started teaching my son how to quilt. My daughter was 2 1/2 at the time, and as soon as my son was laying out his squares of fabric to design the layout of his quilt, my daughter wanted in on the task, too. I had cut a pile of squares that I intended to use for a simple baby quilt that I could donate or give as a gift. I happily gave her my pile of squares. Well, she designed her own pattern with my squares, and it was clear from the beginning that this quilt would be for her. (The quilt is pieced exactly as she designed it, so the safari squares are not all going the same direction.)

I work on a lot of projects at a time, and as a result, things sometimes take a long time to get finished. This quilt was no exception. I gave it to my daughter last month for her 4th birthday.

Wanting to try something different, I chose to graffiti quilt it. I quilt on a domestic machine and this is the largest project I've done graffiti quilting on. I opted for three colors of thread to blend in with the different quilt blocks. The matching bobbin thread created an interesting variety on the back. My goal was to graffiti quilt on a larger scale than I have in the past, but I found that difficult and ended up with a lot of small scale, dense quilting. For the safari blocks, I generally tried to quilt in a way to feature the animals instead of quilting over them.

There are areas that I love, and areas that I'm not so fond of, but on the whole, I'm happy with the results.

Note the date on the label. It's a lie. I made the label in December, thinking I'd "quilt it up real quickly" and finished it in May. Oops.

Thank you for visiting! If you're new to my site, here is some of what I'm currently working on. I hope to knock them into the finished column soon!

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I'm linking up to the Q2 FAL Finishes Linkup. See all my Q2 goals here.


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Purple Ninja Quilt, Finished at Last! ALYoF 2014 report and a New Goal The Great Outdoors Blog Hop: Floating Hexagons Lap Quilt in Petting Zoo Q4 Finish Along Goals and OMG October Goal

28 thoughts on “TGIFF: R’s Pattern”

    1. sarah

       Post author

      Thanks, Izzy. Yes, she was! I just tucked her in under it for bed. The beauty of being 4 is that almost any quilt is big enough to snuggle under. ;-) Thank you for linking up!

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  3. What a special group project! Did she get impatient waiting for you to finish the beautiful quilting? I know she was thrilled! Thanks for hosting this week!

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    1. sarah

       Post author

      Thanks, Paige. I think it was mostly under her radar. I have another quilt that is for her that should have gotten finished long ago as her first quilt. Instead she's just commandeered various household quilts in the interim. My son has started a bed-sized quilt for her. I find that both sweet and a testament to how he knows projects take me forever to finish. (Speaking of which, he keeps asking when I'm gonna get his bed quilt quilted.) ;-)

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    1. sarah

       Post author

      Indeed! She is itching to start sewing on the machine. I suspect that will start this summer. Thanks for visiting.

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  5. It's beautiful, Sarah! I love that you left the squares turned as she put them rather than turning them the 'right' way. I think your quilting looks fantastic too. Thanks for hosting TGIFF this week :)

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    1. sarah

       Post author

      Thanks, Leanne. I've tried to start letting go of perfectionist details in the last couple years. A year and a half ago it was really hard for me to not "right" the squares. I'm glad I left it fully as her design. It makes me smile every time I see it.

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  6. If your daughter 'designed' that quilt at 2 1/2...wait until she is 5! How fun and how great that your kids are taking an interest in your passion!

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    1. sarah

       Post author

      Thank you, Jayne. I should start talking to her about what she wants to make for her first quilt that she gets to sew. I love watching the kids' projects unfold. This year I did some quilting with the kindergarteners at school. Such a great experience! (on the blog soon)

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    1. sarah

       Post author

      Thank you, Yvonne. It was definitely the right design choice to leave it as she intended. I had fun with the quilting. Like I mentioned, it's not perfect... but it's done! :-)

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  9. What fun to let your kids design a quilt!! I will try this with my grandchildren. Hope they ar as creative as your daughter!!
    I love the idea of graffity quilting on a quilt. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. sarah

       Post author

      Thank you, Maartje. My son (almost 6) draws out his plan and then picks fabric now. He's got a little stash of his own fabrics and he's allowed to pull from my stash with permission.

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    1. sarah

       Post author

      I'd agree from this first piece. It'll be interesting to see what she designs next. I suspect we'll start her first quilt that she gets to sew on the sewing machine this summer. Thanks for visiting, Lisa.

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    1. sarah

       Post author

      Thank you so much, Lucy! I'm glad my kids are both excited about quilting. It's a fun passion to share with them.

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  14. I wish I'd have had an idea like that when my kids were young and impressionable! As far as I got was to let them draw quilting patterns on quilts for me to stitch on the lines. Neither daughter quilts--or sews. Yet.

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    1. sarah

       Post author

      Thanks for visiting, Claire. That's a great idea for quilting! There's still time, maybe they'll pick up the hobby sometime down the road.

      Reply ↓

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