Madison's Snoopy Quilt

My seven year old granddaughter, Madison, is a HUGE Snoopy lover. Snoopy was her bedtime stuffed animal of choice from a very young age. She owns multiple Snoopys now and is rarely seen without one under her arm. He goes to the movies with her (she covers his eyes during scenes she feels are inappropriate for him), sits in her chair with her at meals, and even "waits" for her in the car while she is in school all day. 

Madison wears a Snoopy T-shirt every chance she gets-and she has quite a collection of them too. She's all about the Snoopy. 

This cute picture sits on the dresser in Madison's room.

So, when my daughter and son-in-law decided to build a new home I told their three girls that I would make them a quilt or curtains or whatever new that they might like to have for their new room. Madison thought about it for a while and then asked me to make her a Snoopy quilt for her bed. That request came as no surprise to anyone.

But finding Snoopy fabric was not as easy as I thought it would be. I ended up buying most of it from eBay and Etsy. And then when I put all the fabric together I discovered that everything I bought was pinks, reds and blues. That was going to coordinate nicely-happy accident.  :-)

My dilemma was how to use all of these prints in a quilt and make it work, without being overwhelming. There was not a variety in scale, color or subject matter! I decided that the quilt was going to need some white in it to break up the Snoopy and give the eye a place to rest. I found a quilt on Pinterest that was my inspiration. I decided on the finished quilt size, the block and sashing size and I was ready!

On Sept 11 I posted a teaser about a Snoopy quilt. I did great cutting it out and getting all the blocks made in quick order.

I fussy cut some of the fabrics to center Snoopy in the block. 

A narrow sashing of all of the prints tied the blocks together and gave the quilt the cohesion it needed.

I even got all the rows together and the borders on. I mopped the floor, laid out the quilt and got the whole thing layered and pinned. Yes, I was going to have this quilt made in record time..........

Then things came to a screeching halt! My friend Tisha arrived from England for a two week visit. Pam and Anne came to see Tisha too. We went to not one, but two, quilt shows. We visited many quilt shops. We went to Jekyll Island. We were busy every minute of every day.

By the time Tisha left I had a sinus infection, had lost my voice and was coughing like crazy-I was totally worn out!! I spent several days pampering myself (read-I did nothing!!) trying to get well. Then I cleaned house, caught up on laundry and welcomed my mom for a visit. By the time she left that quilt top had been sitting for four weeks. It was time to get quilting!

I decided on a large meandering pattern. Every time I start to meander on a quilt I make it so small that it looks more like I am working on a wallhanging or a table runner. So this time I concentrated on making the pattern larger. I was able to keep a pretty consistent size throughout the quilt-and I was pleased with the results. 

I used this multicolor fabric from a Project Linus line for the backing and I sewed strips of all the fabrics together to use for the binding.

I worked two days straight finishing the quilt. On the first day I quilted for five hours. It was all my back and shoulders could take. On the second day I quilted for three more hours and completed the top. I then trimmed away the excess batting and backing, sewed on the binding (which I had made when I completed the top) and then spent the next six hours that day hand stitching the binding down. I finished at 11:40 that night-but I was determined to be done with it before I went to bed.

The next day I went over to the house when no one was home and I put Madison's new quilt on her bed. 

I confess that I found a new Snoopy for Madison too-he is dressed for Halloween and I just couldn't resist. So there were two surprises waiting for her. 

The family arrived home about 10 minutes later, right after I finished taking a few pictures. 

Madison was over the moon when she saw her new quilt (and new Snoopy). Her sisters were just as excited for her as she was. She happily reported to me the next day that her quilt "slept good".

THIS is the reason I quilt.

A Sew Day with Little Girls

This weekend two of my granddaughters, Emily (7 1/2 years old) and Madison (6) are staying with us. Their older sister, Katelyn (almost 9) is with their aunt for a few days. I decided it was a good time to get out the Hello Kitty sewing machine and get some sew time in with the girls. 

I had purchased fabric to make pillowcases for the girls and decided that was an easy project for them to sew and something they would really enjoy having. They have pillowcases for birthdays and holidays-but one that they made for themselves to use any time would be really special for them. 

Here I blogged about sewing with two of my other granddaughters. And since I am an "equal opportunity Grammy" I had to give space to Emily and Madison and brag about their pillowcases. This was the first time either of them has ever sewn, but after a very quick lesson about how to use the sewing machine and a little practice on scrap fabric pieces, they were ready to sew. Both of them did an excellent job!

Emily is a "girly-girl", so her fabric has 

purses all over it in bright colors.

Madison is a dog lover, extraordinaire!

Her fabric has wiener dogs all over it. 

A Grammy's Gotta Brag

I love my granddaughters. Each one of them is so special to me and each one owns a little piece of my heart. I love that their personalities and interests are all their own. So, now and then, like all grandmothers, I have to brag about my little girls.

Katelyn, my oldest, is 8 and so energetic and enthusiastic about everything in life. Last Spring she played soccer for the first time ever. She was a little hesitant at first, maybe even a little afraid that she might get kicked or take a ball to the face. But, as the season progressed, so did her confidence and her skills. She played again in the Fall and was an awesome scorer for her team-many times scoring the only goals and bringing her team to a victory. 

It is Spring again and once more it is soccer time. This season Katie is being joined on the team by her sister, Emily, age 6. This is Emily's first time to play and she has brought her excitement with her. Yesterday was their first game. Katelyn scored the first goal and Emily the second one! The tradition continues! Next Saturday we will all be there to watch as our girls take the field. 

I love being Grammy!

Emily, Katelyn and their sister, Madison

ready for their first game of the season