Crazy for Pink Quilt Made from a Panel

Hi Boys and Girls!

I hope you all had a very enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday. Now to lose those extra pounds! Oh no...

I finished a quilt! It is amazing what one can do with fabric! I had this really shocking pink fabric panel. I wasn't really sure what to do with it. It is a little crazy as you will see. You may be familiar with the saying, "You can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear." That is sort of how I felt about this panel. Things changed after I took a T-Shirt class from Brenda Goggins at Oak Leaf Quilts. http://www.oakleafquilts.com/ I learned how to make T-shirt quilts but I also learned how to border fussy cut blocks. What is fussy cutting you ask? http://quilting.about.com/od/quiltingglossaryf/g/fussy_cut.htm You cut around the specific picture or figure you want on your quilt, towel, handbag, pillowcase, or whatever, and use that in your project. Sometimes you need a border around it. If you are using the figure for appliqué, you do not need a border. You simply stitch around the piece with a decorative stitch or a blind stitch. Some quilters like to use invisible thread to stitch because it will end up looking like hand-appliqué. Here is a video to give you a better idea of fussy cutting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUF2UYOqHx0
So, I had this weird panel and I fussy cut around the figures I wanted. Then I bordered each block.

I had some material left over to make a pillow. I used a 12" pillow form and made an envelope pillow case so if it gets dirty, the pillow form can be taken out before laundering. Here is a link to making an envelope pillow case. http://sewing.about.com/od/freeprojects/ss/envelopepillow.htm  I had to adjust the back pieces and cut them larger because the top was larger. But the directions give you a general idea of how easy it is.

Back

I had enough fabric left over from the border fabric to piece the back of the quilt. Piecing the back makes a quilt very interesting and sometimes hides irregular quilting. Since this is made for a little girl and may be washed frequently, I had the quilt professionally quilted by a long-arm quilter. The quilting design is of hearts and loops. Sometimes, paying the extra money for professional long-arm quilting is preferable to quilting on a home machine. Long-arm quilting has consistant stitches and the overall construction is stronger.

Pillow

As you may know, I never throw away scraps of fabric! I still have some fabric left over. Any suggestions as to what I can do with this wild fabric? Let me know.

Always label your quilts. Give the quilt a title. I titled the quilt "Crazy for Pink" because there is so much pink in the fabric and the little Princess receiving this is Crazy for Pink!

Quilt labels should have:

• Title of quilt
• Recipient's full name, city and state
• Quilter's full name, city and state
• Date

I also label washing instructions such as: "Machine wash on gentle cycle. No dryer." Most quilts never need washing, just airing out on a yearly basis. Most stains can be spot cleaned. Detergent fades fabric and a dryer will shrink the quilt. It is best to air dry a quilt.

So, try making a quilt with an ordinary panel. Panels are cheap and usually cost about $6. You can just border the panel if you prefer or you can fussy cut the panel and make the quilt a little more interesting.

Enjoy! And, quilt something!