Quilting the Peter Rabbit Quilt

I have several smaller flimsies I've pieced in the last year that I'm going to quilt with my home sewing machine. This works well with spring work outside, I can quilt awhile then go outside into the sunshine, play in the soil and admire all the flowers and green grass. Some of these little quilts I will keep, some are designated for other people and some are compassion quilts. That is what my Wednesday posts will be about for the rest of May, maybe even into June until all the little quilts are finished.

In January I pieced the kit I purchased at Caroline's last summer during my birthday outing. I call it the Peter Rabbit quilt, the kit name is Book Adventures.

I've started a month of machine quilting all the small quilts I've made this last year. Most of them are compassion quilts but this quilt is staying with me until I find the right child, someone who loves to read books.

Last year I experimented with spray glueing regular batting, I also tried a glue batting that you pressed and it stuck to the backing and quilt top.

This year I stuck with the basics, pining only. I pin closely while watching a program on my ipad and time passes quickly. 

Something else I do that might be different from the normal is I don't have a lot of backing on the sides of the quilt. I understand why long arm quilters do but I don't find it necessary to have excess fabric on the sides.

For the quilting I used X and + quilting design. I marked a diagonal X on the quilt flimsy from corner to corner then marked a + at the center of the quilt horizontally and vertically. You sew on the diagonal and pivot on the center lines. I use a Frixon pen for marking, which is easily removed with a hot iron after the quilting is finished.

I used a lightweight poly batting because I don't like poofy quilts. Cream colored cotton thread was used for quilting.

I quilted a quarter of the quilt each day and I started with one of the sides because there is more quilting on the sides.

Here is a closeup of the quilting.

Day two of quilting. The opposite side was quilted. I don't know if it really makes a difference if the top or bottom was quilted after the first side. This just how I do it.

Day three, this time the top section.

Day four, the finish!

After the X quilting was finished, I stitched in the ditch around the neutral border between the book border and the outside border on both sides. See the blue gingham border, I also stitched in the ditch on both sides of it even though it was printed onto the fabric, not pieced. I just thought that would look nice.

Backing fabric did not come with the kit. One day when I was at Calico Point I saw they had a bolt that coordinated with these fabrics so I purchased two yards. Of course that wasn't enough so I added this nice floral because rabbits like flowers. It has been in the stash for a long long time.

Sorry, forgot to crop this photo, you have a nice shot of the emerging hostas. 

Obviously this quilt is directional and I even managed to have the backing fabric running the same direction as the front!

Of course I have to have a picture on the glider. 

The quilt has not been washed so it will probably shrink slightly after laundering. As of now it measures 59" by 66.5" I have no idea who this quilt will be gifted to, probably a child who likes to read. The kit even came with the Peter Rabbit book!

I don't know if the kit is still available, I'll let you google it.

I'll be honest, I don't really think the side border blocks look like books but it's a nice idea.

I'll admit the quilting lines aren't perfectly straight, the measurement between the lines aren't a perfect 1/2" but . . . there are no tucks or pleats on the front or the back and it's a FINISH!

Peter Rabbit Quilt or Book Adventures was #17 on my list of 2025 quilts to make.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, Free Motion Mavericks, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

First Quarter Check-In

It was easy to find time to sew in the first quarter this year. I was so busy last autumn with various activities then there was Thanksgiving and Christmas. I was glad to stay home for New Year's and started the year off with sewing!

Around the World Four Patch was the first complete finish in 2025. 

Around the World Four Patch is #13 on my long list of projects for this year.

I have completed severals flimsies for granddaughter Joanna.

Teal Stars has been pieced and delivered to a long arm quilter for quilting. This quilt was #6 on my list of quilts to make this year.

And Peter Rabbit, Book Adventures is also a flimsy. This was # 17 on the list of projects.

I will quilt this flimsy sometime this summer when I have a quilting binge.

Log Cabin Hearts was #7 on the list of quilts to make and it's a flimsy!

Spring is showing signs of coming, the temperature has warmed up and soon spring flowers will be on display.  Then it will be harder to sit and sew but until then, I'll keep my foot on the pedal and sew, sew, sew!

Linking to First Quarter Check-In, Favorite Finish, To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts

Peter Rabbit Quilt, Book Adventures

The Book Adventures (Peter Rabbit is my name for the quilt) kit was the next project to be sewn in 2025. I purchased the kit at Caroline's during my birthday outing, Donna did too. (Blogger decided this first paragraph needed to be center for some reason.)

This quilt sewed together fast. The directions are well written and my quilt ended up the same size as the pattern, 60" by 67" which doesn't always happen.

At Caroline's I also purchased a store kit to make a compassion quilt. That kit was pieced in October. Do you see a trend happening with my birthday shopping? Yes, I ended up buying three kits altogether, two at Carolines's and one at Lolly's.

Now all three kits have been pieced. One is completely finished while the compassion quilt and Peter will be machine quilted by me next summer along with several other small quilts.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts

Projects Planned for 2025, '26 & Probably '27!

I'm starting off the New Year with a list of quilts I hope to accomplish this year. The projects won't be made in the order they are listed.

First are the older projects that were listed in 2024 and carried over into 2025 - 

1. Fire Island Hosta Queen, designed by QuiltWorx - Poor Fire Island Hosta, she didn't even make it out of the project bag! A start definitely needs to happen this year.

This isn't a kit, I selected my own fabrics but they are similar to the cover picture.

2. Blueberry pie - The blue outer borders have been added but this quilt has to wait to be quilted. The applique border looks a little puckery. This will quilt out just fine when it is pulled tight in the quilting frame.

Quilting will definitely not happen in 2025, I'm planning on putting another quilt into the quilting frame this fall.

3. Elegant Garden - finish applique blocks and sew the flimsy together. Elegant Garden is an older applique pattern designed by Edyta Sitar. Elegant was not on my list for 2024 but was started when the blueberry pie applique was finished.

4. Garden Party - Thirty-six blocks have been pieced. The plan is that this will be the only project I work on at the April retreat this spring, I'm hoping to have all the posey blocks pieced by the end of the retreat. The alternate blocks will be red chain blocks which should go fast since they will be strip pieced. Garden Party is found in the Addicted to Scraps book written by Bonnie Hunter.

And the new projects planned are . . .

5. Relief Sale quilt - Elaine and I are collaborating together and making a blue & light gray 9-patch quilt similar to the one the guild made back in 2019. Elaine is doing the applique while I am piecing the 9 patches then sewing them and the applique sections together. The goal is to have the flimsy appliqued, pieced and ready to put into the hand quilting frame this fall. I've decided the name of this quilt is Rhapsody in Blue but I haven't told Elaine yet. 

6, 7, 8. Make 3 quilts for granddaughter Joanna. Log Cabin Heart, Stars & Log Cabin, & the 2024 BOM quilt from A Quilting Life by Sherri McConnell. Three quilts is very ambitious, I'm aiming for at least one quilt but three would be fantastic. All three will be out of teal fabrics. I also reserve the privilege of changing my mind about which patterns to make.

9. Make at least 1 of the bagged projects I have kitted. Two would be even better but I'll be satisfied with one.

10. Red & White Gatherings - a challenge with Lynn. We both bought this book several years ago when we saw one of the quilts on display at the Quilt Store @ the Essenhaus complex. We each need to make one quilt from the book, our own choice. 

The quilt has to be based on one of the patterns from the book but we can change it to suit our taste. I already know Lynn will be adding applique to her quilt because she always adds applique.

I'm planning to make a version of this feathered star quilt and I'm going to actually make it with red fabric, but a blue version would really awesome!

11. Possibly another blue & white quilt might happen, I have some blue embroidered blocks that needs to be made into a quilt.

12. Then there are the purple/lavender embroidered blocks that also need to be made into a quilt.

13. Around the World Four Patch - made with the two white jelly rolls I bought at MSQC in November combined with a Free Spirit Daydreamer design roll I purchased in Utah several years ago. (The Daydreamer link was one of many places to find the design roll.) Of course I'm making the quilt larger than the pattern calls for. I'll probably add fabrics left from the Tula Hexies quilt.

14. There are several small flimsies to be machine quilted by me. Should they be counted as 14, 15 & 16?

15. Hand quilt a crib quilt made in Amish style. Amish style doesn't have much piecing, it's the quilting that brings it to life. Not all Amish quilts have black which is a good thing, I can no longer see black thread on black fabric!

16. And, as if all those projects aren't enough to keep me busy, I signed up for the 2025 Designer Mystery BOM through Fat Quarter Shop that starts in June 2025!

17. Book Adventures - While celebrating my birthday last summer, I purchased the Book Adventures kit at Carolines. I thought this was going to be a little crib quilt but it's 60" by 67"! I want to have this pieced and quilted before my next July birthday. This way I'll have all those squirrel quilts that I bought on my 2024 birthday outing finished!  

If I have time (😉?), it would be fun to get out my Weird Scrappy Log Cabin blocks (also known as Quilt Vortex) and make more of them. If you do check out the link to my post written in November 2022, the link for the Call Me Crazy pattern no longer works, try this link instead.

After organizing and writing about all these projects, I've decided this is much more than a one year plan, this is definitely a two year, probably a three year plan! Maybe I can actually accomplish these goals if I keep all of the squirrels out of the sewing studio.

Linking to 2025 Quilt Planning Party, Wednesday Wait Loss, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts