Girls' Quilts

I made Rebekah & Erika these quilts for Christmas. A friend asked me how I made them, so I put together a little explanation (not so little... I got a bit carried away) and thought I'd share it here. I also have pdfs of the instructions, templates & cutting layouts that's I'd be happy to share with others, but I can't figure out how to attach the pdfs in blogger.

Quilt Instructional

½” seam allowance

material assumed to be 43” wide

all material amounts are to make two quilts

8 ½ yards double-sided fusible web

3 yards dark pink (optional additional 1/8 yard for backing)

3 yards dark purple (optional additional 1/8 yard for backing)

1 ¾ yards yellow

½ yard orange

1 1/8 yards green

1 1/8 yards teal

3 yards light pink (squares; optional additional 4 ½ yards for backing)

3 yards light purple (squares; optional additional 4 ½ yards for backing)

Thread in dark pink, dark purple, yellow, orange, green & teal

Batting (I bought 1 king size and cut it in half to make 2 quilts. It’s cheaper that way. You could also buy twin sized)

large circles – 9”diameter

medium circles – 6”diameter

small circles & flower centers – 3”diameter

I drew the quilts to be identical, but in actuality, I made some thing opposite: the quilt border & grid are reversed (purple border, pink grid on one; pink border, purple grid on the other) and the squares are reversed (flowers on pink, circles on purple on one quilt, flowers on purple, circles on pink on the other). I did this so that the quilts had subtle differences, but still looked the same at a glance.

For the backing, I used the light pink & light purple materials that for the squares. I used 4 pieces with the grid material between. It ended up being a little short, so I had to piece them together. It was kind of a pain. If you want to use material for the back, you’ll need an extra 4 ½ yards per quilt. Another option would be to buy a twin flat sheet and use that as the backing. If I had to do it over, that’s what I’d do.

Trace the circles & flower pieces on the material. I just used a pen as I find those material pencils annoying. After all are traced, iron on the fusible web to the back of the entire area of tracing. Cut out shapes. Iron on large circles & outer flower petals onto squares. Zigzag stitch around outside edge. Iron medium circles & inner flower petals on (note: make sure that the inner petals are in the right spot so that the inner circle covers the inner edge of each petal). Zigzag stitch around outside edge. Iron on small circles. Zigzag stitch around outside edge.

The flowers are the same for the whole quilt. There are 2 color combinations of flowers: large green flower with dark purple petals & orange middles; and large blue flowers with pink petals & yellow middles. If I had to do it over again, I’d pick a different material for the yellow or buy some backing, as it’s a little too transparent to hide the petals below. Just something to watch out for.

The offset circles are the same for each circle… so the large circle is centered, the medium circle is centered vertically and 1” from the right edge of the large circle horizontally. I alternated the position of the small circles. Some are 1” from the top of the circle, some are 1” from the bottom of the circle vertically and are centered horizontally. I was very picky to make sure that I didn’t repeat any color combinations (so there’s only 1 per quilt that is green, pink & yellow in any order), and rotated the squares to make them “random”. I hope that makes sense. I wanted them to appear uniformly random.

After making all of the squares, I began sewing them together with the grid. I did entire rows

(square/grid/square/grid/square/grid/square)

then when all of the rows were done, I sewed them together

(row/grid/row/grid/row/grid/row/grid/row/grid/row)

then sewed the long grid piece along the edge of the whole quilt.

I pieced the border together to make long enough strips, then sewed that around the outside.

Binding: I highly recommend a 1” bias tape maker for this process. Or you can put a large needle through your ironing board to kind of guide the folding process to make all that ironing easier. Better instructions on that process here.

Layer the quilt, batting & backing together and sew together with the binding. I usually safety pin it together in a few pieces to keep it together while moving it. Edge stitch the binding on around the entire quilt.

Tying: you certainly could quilt the quilt, but I’m not good at that at all. If you quilt it, I think it’s recommended that you quilt before binding. I just used yarn and a large needle to put a stitch in each grid intersection. I put the needle from the top of the quilt through to the back, moved over ¼”, pushed the needle back through to the top and tied a not. Cut the yarn to about 1” long.

Fall Fun

Erika wasn't thrilled with the costume, to put it mildly. She lightened up about it a little bit after we gave her some candy though.

Here's the cast of Toy Story!

Here's the lot of us at Danny & Laura's church.

Tim coached Bekah & Joey's soccer team this fall. He did a great job - all the kids loved him. Bekah & Joey each scored a bunch of goals and had a lot of fun.

First day of school!

Today was Bekah & Joey's first day of school! They were super excited.

The last two days I've gotten to take Bekah and Joey out one at a time (thanks Mom!) to do some school shopping, have lunch & see a movie. It was a really special time for us. Joey picked out this glow-in-the-dark batman shirt and reversible shorts. Super exciting!

Bekah loves to clothes shop. She picked this out for her first day, and the headband, and a necklace. So pretty and grown up!

We also went to see Ramona & Beezus. Yeah, I saw it two days in a row. It's a pretty good movie!

Here's all my sweeties -

Me & the group -

Finally time for the bus!!!!

Another Build-A-Bear

Ryan and I went to Build-A-Bear last night to celebrate his success in potty training, a "tradition" of sorts in our family. You might recall the illustrious Spidey Rex from a few years back...

Here is Ryan's new friend, Woody. He may not be as memorable as Sir Spidey, but he is very cute and we are happy that he's joined our family.

Ryan Update

So where's Ryan? All these posts about Bekah & Joey & Erika... let's not forget the "middle".

Ryan is a happy boy. He is full of energy and is very good at making us all laugh. And he still makes the "Ryan face".

Ryan likes to carry things around. Currently he's very into Toy Story, and carries around his beloved blanket, 2 hard plastic Buzz toys, and a stuffed Buzz & Woody. It's a big armful.

Joey & Bekah recently sported crazy hair for a crazy day at preschool, so we let Ryan join in the fun with his own mohawk, which he liked to call "shark hair"

He also has been enjoying playing with a puzzle of the US that recites the state names, nickname & state capital. I thought he just liked it, but discovered recently that he's really soaking in the information when he regurgitated "Pennsylvania, the Keystone state, state capital: Hairburg." Shortly after, he asked me how to spell Boise. A boy after my own heart, loving geography. :-)

He's such a cutie. His whole face smiles and I just can't help but squeeze those cheeks.

Preschool Graduation

Time certainly flies. Back in November I was mourning the start of preschool. Now I'm mourning it's end! Bekah and Joey graduated from preschool today. I thank God for providing such a fantastic experience for them. They attended preschool with 2 loving teachers and 40 enthusiastic, caring teenagers who are just beginning their paths in elementary education. Graduation was beyond adorable. It just made me even more aware of how quickly 2023 will be upon us.

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We were so encouraged to hear from the teachers today that Bekah and Joey are wonderful, intelligent, kind children who will excel in kindergarten. We're thankful to God for the wonderful children He has placed in our care.

Happy 5th Birthday, Bekah and Joey!

Here's our annual picture of the twins on our front porch on their birthday. Weren't they tiny yesterday? I'm so proud of how them. We have two very nice five year olds. It used to seem that school was a lifetime away, now it's lurking behind the corner.

Here are some more pictures from their party.

The first lost tooth

Bekah lost her first tooth tonight! The tooth wasn't *quite* ready yet, but it decided to pop out anyway when colliding with Ryan's head. Bekah is all excited to go to school tomorrow to show her friends her new look. I wonder what the tooth fairy will be leaving for her.

I just loved losing teeth as a kid. I'm excited (maybe even more excited than they are) about entering this new phase.

Happy Birthday, Erika!!

It's hard to believe Erika is already one. Where has the time gone? She's such a happy, easy going girl. I'm so thankful that God brought her into our lives.

That's a big yawn for being just born!

I remember this moment so clearly, piling all the kids on the bed and thinking "wow... there's a LOT of us."

She's always liked to stick out her tongue a lot. So cute.

Erika's first trip to the zoo was at just 1 week old (and to the science center at 10 days - we were a little tired of being in the house). Here she is at a visit this summer. She likes the zoo - both the one she lives in and the ones with animals. This is one of my favorite pictures, all of us sitting on the metal tortise.

Erika is the youngest of 8 cousins on my side of the family.

Such a precious face...

Erika is happy *most* of the time. However, for the first 6 months or so, she REALLY hated bath time. She's since started liking it, but only if she's in the big tub with several siblings.

Have I mentioned that's she's extremely happy?

Erika attended her first Penguin game in October. She was a peach through the whole thing and didn't fall asleep until the third period. We managed to snag a visit with Iceburgh. Is it just me, or do they have very similar smiles?

As most babies, Erika sleeps a lot, and she has a real gift for falling asleep anywhere, and in some rather odd positions. This is her on Thanksgiving Day. Tim is holding up 3 fingers as that was the third time that day she had fallen asleep on him. He's got a gift.

We all thought she'd be an early walker when she picked this up around 8 1/2 months, but she's still taking just 2-3 steps occasionally and speed cruising everywhere else.

A star in the making...

Erika hasn't yet discovered, as her siblings have, that DADDY is the best thing on earth. She loves her Daddy, but for now, I'm quite content having her be Mommy's little angel.

Erika LOVES to empty the cupboards. Here she is "guilty as charged".

Here she is saying she's one. She is also saying, "chewing on my finger really makes my sore gums feel better." Sweetie girl only has 2 teeth that have poked through and is in great need for more to follow suit.

We love you, Erika.

Joey's Hockey Game

When the hockey schedule came out, Tim let Bekah and Joey each pick a game (with an afternoon start time) that they wanted to go to. Joey's game was yesterday (Bekah's is next month) against the Predators. Joey has been counting down for about two months... literally asking every day how many days left until the game.

There are many advantages to having your dad as the team organist...

Like being in the bowels of the arena before the game and seeing the game nets.

And getting to go right down by the glass for warm-ups.

And getting an awesome view of the game, albeit a bit scary for mom.

And spending the time during intermission playing the (unplugged) organ.

And going down on the ice after the game.

But maybe the best part of the whole thing is spending the whole afternoon - just Daddy & you...