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Another easy rag quilt in the making...

Since we have had two new babies in the family, I am making another rag quilt. This one is made out of a flat child's sheet that no longer has its mate and an old towel. Rag quilts seem to be very forgiving for the beginner quilter (um - that would be me!) and fairly quick to make into the bargain. If you have always wanted to make a quilt - I reckon one of these is the way to go!

Here's what I did...


Find a pleasant place to sew...

Preferably with a view that includes chickens! 

Cut out all the cool pictures on the sheet and then put them back to back with a layer of towel in between so that you end up with a sandwich of picture, towel and then picture.
Play around with the arrangment until you have them all in lines that are roughly the same length

This time I chose to quilt each one with a different pattern... Just to see if it could be done. (and it can) Traditionally, rag quilts have been quilted with an X accross the square. Have a look at the links at th bottom of the page for variations on a rag quilt.
As fun as this is - I forgot that I would lose some of the picture to the seams...

Then I joined the panels together into strips

And then the strips to each other...

Which gives me a quilt with a front like so...
 
And a back like thus...

Now all I have to do is sew around and then snip all the edges, which would have been so much easier to do if I hadn't sprained the knuckles on my right hand playing basketball yesterday! Oh well, I will be able to catch up with some blogs while Im sitting around unable to do much with my mangled hand in the meantime...

I'll update as soon as I can hold a pair of sissors!

For some great tutorial on rag quilts, have a look at the instructions for my first one here, or have a look at this You-Tube video tutorial here, or these links here and here. This is a link to a pretty striped rag quilt

Score card:
Green-ness: 5/5 for creating something new out of "old" items.
Frugal-ness: 5/5 for only paying for the postage and not the gift!
Time cost: Probably about 4 hours all up over 3 days
Skill level: Basic impatient beginners sewing in a straight line level!
Fun -ness: This one is great fun - such bright happy colours!

Comments

africanaussie said…
What lovely colours! - it is beautiful. I like your sewing room with a view!
Anonymous said…
What a lovely quilt. I don't have much patience for quilting, learned that lesson the hard way, but if I had a spot to sew like that I might just be able to enjoy the process. All I can say about that sewing "room" is Wow!
Practical Frog said…
Thats the pergola we built about 5 years ago - its just an extra room for us that happens to be outdoors on 3 sides! We use it for everything at this time of the year - including sleeping sometimes. The very clever hubby built some bench seats that go together in the size of a queen size bed. Pop on the camping matrress and voila - instant outdoor bedroom. I'll blog it next time we sleep out there! - K xx
Anonymous said…
Cute! I have one that I started 2 years ago and never finished - maybe this is the winter I drag it out again and finish it.
Practical Frog said…
Yes! I'd love to see the results! - K xx
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