Grandson's quilt and donation quilts

I can share our Grandson's Quilt now. He asked for a blanket for his birthday, not a quilt. It took a while, but I figured out that he probably wanted a heavy quilt with Minkee on the back. He sent me a picture of one of his baby quilts that he still liked and wanted a larger one to fit him. Twelve years ago, I made this baby quilt. As soon as I saw the photo he sent, I recalled how heavy the quilt was. 

His 12-year old quilt doesn't look this good anymore! 

He made the request just 9 days before his birthday so I told him it might be late. Since blue was the requested color, I went on a hunt for blue flannel for the top and blue Minkee for the back. I decided to make this really simple when I bought every blue flannel I found. I decided on a diamond layout and added a bit of red for interest. The center seemed to need something, so I added his name. The darkest navy flannel looked dull so I replaced it with navy Minkee (the dark diamond).

The quilting is a large loop de loop. 

I had 2 dark flannels, 2 mediums, and 2 lights. Replacing the darkest with the Minkee was a good choice.

The back is navy Minkee. 

This quilt is heavy, like a blanket, with a flannel top, a thin batting (Dream Cotton Natural Request - Thinnest Loft, which I use almost exclusively), and a Minkee back. And Leo was quite happy to get it just 5 days after his birthday!

Size:         64" by 72"

Thread:    Glide 50-wt, top - Steel Blue 38201

                 back - Navy 32965

Batting:     Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:    Loop de loop

Maze is a donation quilt. I saw a maze quilt and wanted to try making a one. I used graph paper and ended up with nine blocks, all the same. Each block is rotated in the quilt so the maze path interconnects.

The colored fabric is leftover fabric I had in my stash. The white path through the quilt begins/ends in the upper right corner and the lower left corner of the photo. I extended the white  into the binding so the beginning and ending are easy to find. The path is big enough to drive a matchbox car on. (That's what my boys would have done!)

The backing is navy with little squares of different colors.

Size:         57" square

Thread:    Glide 50-wt, top - Light Grey 17543

                 back - Blueberry 30281

Batting:     Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:    Large meander

Blue Diamonds is another donation quilt.

When I got my Stripology rulers a while ago, I wanted to make some diamonds. I grabbed a few blue scraps and began cutting. All of a sudden, I had enough diamonds for a quilt so I made Blue Diamonds. The light diamonds are light blue. I just used any scrap from my leftover blues.

I decided the back needed to be exciting. And I think it is!

This quilt is easily reversible. The binding is navy.

Size:         54" by 64"

Thread:    Glide 50-wt, top - Battleship 10430

                 back - Ruby 70187

Batting:    Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:   Meander

There's lots of quilting going on here - just like I like it!

Lots of quilting with one finish to share

I've been doing a lot of quilting but only have one finish to show. There are a couple of others but they are gifts so I'll wait to share them.

The finish is the second Simply Squares Series Quilt, Turquoise with Yellow.

The Simply Square Series Quilts are all donation quilts. I'm hoping they will make a dent in my stash while allowing me to have more quilts to donate.

The back is a turquoise print with lots of color shapes while the binding is a navy blue.

Size:         56" by 56"

Thread:    Glide 50-wt, top - 80607 Lemon Ice

                 back - 32975 Lt Turquoise

Batting:     Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:    Large 3Cs motif

I spent last weekend on retreat with friends. We had a great time as usual and were all glad to make it home before the blizzard hit Sunday night! 

I finished a few quilt tops during the retreat. The first top is a Simply Squares Quilt, Red with Navy Polka Dot. The navy is not as dark as the photo appears.

I also put together Simply Squares Quilt, Red with Navy print. Again, the navy is not as dark as it appears.

This Take Five Quilt will also be a donation. It's been years since I last used this pattern.

Another donation quilt is this Double Irish Chain.

While at the retreat, K gifted me some flannel to use in donation quilts. One of her friends received this flannel from someone and K thought I would use it. I'll try!

Yes, there are 8 good sized pieces and none of them go together! I'm trying to match up cottons from my stash with each flannel.

When I finished the last gift quilt today, I decided to use the sports flannel print from the first photo of flannels above, and make Flannel Quilt Series - Blue with Sports Print.

The blue is cotton from my stash.

When I stated the Simply Square Series, I envisioned 3 or 4 quilts. I think there will be more. And now there is a Flannel Quilt Series. I think I need more hours each day to quilt!

Health Update: We are both doing pretty good!