Ragged Square Quilts

Making my Ragged Square Quilts was just the most fun. Not knowing what I was getting into, I decided first to use the concept to make a dolly quilt. Following the wonderful tutorial on Crazy Mom Quilts, I used rectangular scraps from my scrap box. My sandwich was white flannel on the bottom, Heritage batting for the center, white flannel for the top, and then I stitched the little rectangular pieces on top of all three layers. The last thing I did was sew the binding around the edges and put the label on the back.


I was so tickled with the way it turned out, I could’t wait to start the lap quilt. Since I did not have many coordinated red and black fabrics, I went to our local quilting shop and treated myself to 12 - 1/4 yard pieces of really nice fabrics and a one yard piece of batik for the back. The red and black strips were from Moda jelly rolls. Mixing and matching the large, medium, and small squares for the top was a challenge, but it also was lots of fun. For the binding I used left over pieces from the top, and this was my first “one piece” binding following a tutorial by Heather Bailey entitled “Continuous Quilt Binding Directions.” The quilt turned out to fit a little breakfast table I have in my kitchen perfectly, so it is now being used as a colorful tablecloth instead of a lap quilt.
Here is the layout of the squares before stitching.

These photos show how the squares ravel after washing...be prepared to pull a LOT of little strings!The more you wash it the cuter it becomes.

My finished lap quilt turned tablecloth.

T-Shirt Quilt

My nephew, Gabe, will be 8 years old this year, and I wanted to make him a little quilt for his bunk bed. I call it his “Henry T-Shirt Quilt”. Two years ago my daughter made my grandson, Henry, a great quilt top from his favorite outgrown T-shirts and used warm and wonderful feeling fleece for the backing. I thought it was such a neat idea it I decided to make one for him. I used 12 t-shirt squares - all the fronts and a few of the backs - and the side borders and backing were navy fleece. I made a small pillow, 2 pillow cases out of the extra T-shirts, and the left over pieces of cotton I stripped together for the binding. It was a fun project, and for it the fleece worked out great. Once again, I used the Heritage batting for the center. The end product was one warm, soft, and cozy quilt that fits his bunk bed perfectly. After completing the project, I actually found a good site to go to for help named Tee Shirt Quilts. It is full of pictures, suggestions, and instructions that are easy to understand and follow.