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Archive for the tag “flannel”

12 May 2014

The first flannel is complete!!

After making so very many purchases to get all of the different flannel I wanted in this small quilt, I had to make an additional trip to the store for more of the solid flannel. This last trip left me with enough flannel to make two quilts.

You might think this would be a good thing, but in my opinion it just reminds me that there’s another quilt that needs my attention and I don’t even get the sense that I’ve completed one.

This of course is a flannel quilt, rife with it’s own issues. I did pin… every… little… piece… and still managed to get it all wonky somehow.

By the title that I’ve chosen, I’d have you believe this was the very first flannel quilt I’ve every made but that would be incorrect. Allow me to say that I’ve made several, but the others’ that I’ve put needle and thread to were of the Christmas and baby variety. This is the first truly flannel quilt for flannel quilts’ sake.

I learned quite a bit while shopping for fabric for this quilt. Apparently there is a great difference in flannel fabric. Without going into too much detail, I’ll limit myself to speaking about the flannel you’ll find at the fabric store. Generically it comes down to about four types. Baby flannel, quilting flannel, felt flannel (my term), and shirting flannel. The difference caught me off guard when it came to the register. The differences were so minute that the store gets them mixed together.

The lady checking me out gave the total that shocked me and as we looked at why the discounts weren’t applying found that I had chosen three different types of flannel and only one type was on sale.

Back to the quilt as it came together. Normally square quilts don’t blow my hair back and as you can see, I sort of painted myself into a corner with the pattern I came up with. Que Sera, Sera… Quilts I’ve found can take on a life of their own. After this one was complete and I did the mad dash the day it was due at Linda’s, the backing almost became a huge issue. Why, oh why, don’t I factor in the size of the quilt when selecting the amount of material I purchase for the backing?!?

The finished quilt, bound with so-softies and pierced with yarn.

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05 Jun 2012

Flannel

The first quits I ever made were flannel quilts. Probably because the first quilt I ever remember having was one from my Aunt Clara and it was a patchwork flannel. There wasn’t anything fancy about it, the pattern was blocks arranged haphazardly on the quilt top. The underside was made from one piece of fabric with warm autumn colors throughout. I don’t recall now if there was the possibility of batting between the top and bottom, but it already felt heavy enough.

I remember the weight of the quilt anchoring me down on those cold winter nights and in the spring when the rain would come and we’d tunnel into our quilt every time the lightning lit up the night sky. When it got real bad we’d be called into the front room with our quilts in tow for a cup of hot chocolate to calm our nerves.

When my wife and I were discussing which quilts we were going to be keeping and which ones to send off to family members we realized something… We currently have a springtime quilt and Kay is finishing a Summer one. I’ve just completed an Autumn quilt which just leaves a Winter quilt to complete the set. Much to my wife’s chagrin, I suggested that since I was the one to make it, that I would make our Winter’s quilt out of flannel. She complains if the weight of our covers isn’t enough and I figured that having a flannel top and bottom with a warm and natural cotton batting in the middle would do the trick. She was a little put off by this because it would be the only flannel quilt in the set. I’m also worried that my long-arm quilt person will freak out with the thickness she’ll have to quilt through.

I’d love to hear you opinion on flannel quilts… where do you stand?