I teased you on Monday and told you a little about the quilt I was working on for Carver. Here’s the back story. Where we live kids can go to three-year-old preschool…then four-year-old preschool…then kindergarten. Last year because we didn’t know how Covid was, Kalissa didn’t know if she was going to send Carver. It wasn’t mandatory and she wasn’t sure how her can Craig felt about it. At the last minute, she decided to tell him.
It turns out Carver needed a blanket for nap time. There was no time to make one so he went in my childcare napping blankets and picked a pink princess quilt. YEP. That’s Carver. He likes pink…doesn’t mind princesses and isn’t raised to think pink is a girl color.
I decided that I wanted to make the quilt for him that I had wanted to make him last year and with school only three weeks away, I decided to get on it.
I didn’t want to put a ton of work into it…but I wanted something that reflected Carver so I pulled out Lori Holt’s book Spelling Bee. Find it HERE.
This quilt was in it.
I decided I would change it up some…I would make the tractor block from Lori Holt’s book Farm Girl Vintage 2.
The beauty of Lori’s books is that the blocks are interchangeable. I would use recycled shirts primarily in blues. His name would be red…the tractor green and all would be recycled shirts. YEP, I had a plan.
I made his name first and then the tractor. Making the letters was a little putzy but really easy.
I ended up making the quilt a little bigger than the original and had to cut out more blocks. Carver’s is 11 blocks wide.
It is made entirely of recycled shirts…and a pair of recycled pajama bottoms.
Here is a peak of it on the machine.
I would have been done sooner but I have a tension issue and had to rip out a lot. You can see the area that had to be ripped.
I had a backing fabric but need the backing to be bigger…so, I did this.
I love how it turned out. This was a thrift store fabric with the pajama bottoms providing the long strips of red.
It was windy when I was trying to get pictures.
Here is a better picture…
I am so happy with it. From start to finish, including the machine quilting and binding, it took about seven hours.
I am VERY pleased with it.
I told Carver I picked blue because it was his and Papa Moo’s (Kramer’s) favorite color and that he liked plaid. I told him I picked red because it was my favorite color.
I told him I put a tractor on it because I know he wants to be a farmer…and Dad drives a green tractor sometimes.
I used my hook and point motif for the longarming.
I used a variegated blue thread on the front and back.
Isn’t it cute??
The quilt book has bed-sized and baby-sized patterns.
I’m happy I got to put this on the back.
The heart is from her Vintage Christmas book. If you look you can see that the mitten has a heart in the center of it. I used the directions to make the heart from the 12″ mitten block and only made the heart.
What a fun project with instant gratification!!
I used the same red pajama bottoms for the binding. It worked perfectly as I could cut long strips.
I gave it to Carver as soon as it was finished.
Here I am telling him about it.
Here he is reading the back and laughing because a heart means love and I spelled “you” wrong by making a “U”.
He was really sweet about the quilt.
Later Kalissa sent this picture. Dirty-faced, playing Mindcraft, snuggled in his quilt…that’s my boy!!
If you are looking for a quick quilt, I HIGHLY recommend getting the Spelling Bee book by Lori Holt. What a fun quilt to make!!
Jo, I love the quilt! Carver is a very lucky boy! Thank you for sharing the sweet story!
That quilt is wonderful! I am sure Carver will love it for a long time.
Very very nice and cute!
What a great.t nap time quilt. You had better get to work on the next one- your Grand babies came thick and fast.
The picture blocks are great to reflect the kids lives or interests.
What a wonderful quilt! I love everything about quilt! Carver is a very lucky little boy to have such a talented Grandmother and you can tell how much he loves it!❤ Thanks for sharing Jo!
What a special quilt! Love it! It will be comforting, too, on those days that aren’t so great.
That is just the cutest quilt! By the way your Impatients are beautiful!
Wonderful
Well done Jo
I love this quilt! It says Grandma loves Carver in every single block and stitch. A happy quilt. Plus beautiful in it’s blueness.
What a great quick quilt to go off to school with. Love seeing the quilt by your row of blooming flowers that look so pretty.
Awesome quilt
LOVE–love it—the colors—the whole thing!! Can see Carver loves it too!! And how he will enjoy it–so special, made especially for him by Grandma!! Beautiful—and all the love to be found in every stitch!!!
That turned out so cute and I bet the other kids will be a little envious!! LOL I canNOT BELIEVE you got that done so quickly..another tornado day!
Love that Carver’s quilt is personalized and your impatiens are gorgeous!
It’s beautiful, and the fact that it was fast makes it even better. I can see he loves it.
What a wonderful quilt. I know he will love it to pieces.
The quilt is adorable and perfect for Carver! I think I’m going to have to order the book!
I love Carver’s quilt, you did a fantastic job!!!
There couldn’t be any more love sewn into Carver’s quilt if you had spent a thousand hours making it! How very special!
tooo cute!
The quilt is soooo cute, and so is Carver!
Love, love, love this!!!!!
I love this! Carver will always treasure the quilt from Grandma Jo. Such a neat quilt!
Love everything about this! Quilt is so great, but your story about it is the best!
Just love Carver’s quilt!! Everything you put into is holds so much meaning! Home run!!!
What a fantastic quilt! Carver (and the rest of your grandchildren) are so lucky to have you for their grandma!
Such a sweet story! I loved hearing about Carver choosing the pink princess quilt. I have a nephew who really liked pink when he was younger–probably still does. When his grandma made him a skateboard quilt, you know some of those skateboards had to be pink. He went with her to the quilt shop and picked out the best fabric–there are lots of great pinks to choose from!
This is a darling quilt! He’ll love this forever!
Love and prayers
Love the quilt and I am sure Carver does too! Others will be envious of it. Great job and this is why quilters has a stash!
SEW adorable, Jo!! What a special gift for Carver. It’s obvious that he loved it already!
That is SO CUTE!!! Perfect for Carver, who obviously loves it!
Love this quilt! Love the meaning behind the colors and tractor. Carver will feel your live as he snuggles in his quilt at school! He is one lucky boy!!
Oh my word! Carver’s quilt is amazing. My granddaughter is going into preschool. I need to find out if she needs a nap quilt. I have those three fabulous books as well and would love to make her another quilt. If not, I’ll keep the idea for kindergarten.
You mentioned a tension issue and that you had to rip out some quilting. Have you found an efficient way to do so? It takes me HOURS and is so incredibly frustrating!
Being it was a tension thing, I was able to get what I quilted out after about 2 hours of ripping. UGH.
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