When I last left you with Emmett’s and Eli’s baby quilts, I was about here…
I was missing blocks. Oh, I hate when that happens.
I wrote that blog post on Sunday and Monday I decided I just wanted these finished. I was done hunting for the pinwheel rows I was sure I had sewn together. I’d just quickly make more blocks.
I was off from childcare due to my Covid exposure. This was the perfect time to get these DONE.
On a side note, I love when parents don’t find out if they are having a boy or girl…BUT, I hate that when it comes to making the baby quilts!! I don’t what to make until they are born. So the quilts don’t get done timely and I feel like the baby quilt is hanging over my head…ugh. Oh well. I was going to tackle these now.
I had to stitch the steering wheel. Just some simple outline stitches. I had fretted about his but it was easy.
I put Eli’s quilt on first and in no time I had it done.
I went to load Emmett’s and ended up with trouble. The motor that advances the quilt would not work. Darn.  I am terrible about anything mechanical. TERRIBLE. But, I thought I would give it a look.
See that black spot in the middle? It said fuse on it. Hmm. Okay. I can do that. I got the fuse out and figured it had blown.
I went to town. I got fuses. I wasn’t real confident that I had the right one though as the guy that was helping me was a little “iffy”.
I went home and replaced it. Darn. I won’t work. UGH. I called Buck on video chat. We couldn’t figure it out. I called Craig. He came over and looked it over. Hmm. That’s when I remembered that this had happened when I had the machine at the farm. I thought back then they might have sent me more than one fuse.
I started digging. I finally found it. I did have another fuse. We popped that one in and the machine worked.
AH…so thankful it was something little. I am going to order more fuses though as I can’t use the machine if I can’t advance the quilt.
So, now it was time for Emmett’s quilt….
Once the fuse problem was fixed, I had the quilt done in a short time.
It was 7pm by now but I really, really, really wanted these finished so…I stayed in the quilting room and bound the quilts.
Here they are all finished!! Eli’s in on the left in blue. Emmett’s in on the right in green.
Notice anything about them? I do now, but it’s too late. Remember those missing rows? I accidentally put on of them on the bottom of Eli’s quilt. His quilt is one longer. I didn’t realize it until I came downstairs on Tuesday and read the blog post comments. Several of you wrote to let me know.
It’s all good. Emmett’s is the size that I intended it to be. Eli’s is bigger.
The pattern is a modification of this…
The original is much bigger.
The pattern is in Lori Holt’s Farm Girl Vintage book.
Find it HEREÂ on Amazon.
I am pleased with how they turned out.
I made them from upcycled mens 100% cotton shirts. I think the plaids and strips look great with the tractors. Eli and Emmett’s dad is a farmer.
I put their names on the back.
The pattern for that came from Lori Holt’s book Spelling Bee. Find it HERE.
The letters are super simple to make. They have very few pieces and are totally doable.
I had an XL men’s shirt in green the backing was enough to make the tractor and the binding. I used another XL back for the background.
I think it turned out great.
I love the stripe for the binding.
For Eli’s I didn’t have big backing pieces so I ended up using several different pieces.
Don’t mind the droplets on the tractor. The grass had a little dew on it when I took the pictures.
I machine stitched the smoke from the smoke stack and embroidered the steering wheel.
This one got a blue strip fro the binding.
I used my hook and feather for the quilting.
I did a video for that…
One more look before they are gifted away!!
I’m pleased with them and hope Kelli and the boys will be too. If I ever make one again I will add the extra row as Eli’s has. I think the proportion looks a little better. I guess it all matters if a person likes rectangle or more square quilts.
I have had these Lori Holt books for years. Have you noticed I’ve been on roll with them? I’m so glad to finally be using them all!!
P.S. You can read about mine and Kalissa’s epic photo shoot fail HERE.
Fab quilts. Just love quilts from shirts, they look so comforting and joyful.
The quilts are lovely! They look brilliant, made with the recycled plaid shirts :-)
Great quilts, the boys are going to be so happy with these quilts when they’re old enough to realize what they are! Quilts like these would also be great quilts for auctions, happy stitching!
These quilts are wonderful. I’m sure they will be well loved.
I like everything about this blog, especially the part about solving the fuse problem. It makes me feel so good when I finally get to the bottom of a mechanical issue, too! I agree about knowing the gender ahead of time. It gives me more time to think about my project and get it to the family before the child is six. ; ) The quilts look great!
Great job on these quilts for your grandsons! Love them!!
Beautiful Tractor Quilts, Jo! These really showcase your stitching talents!! You’re amazing in so many ways!!
Love them!! SO good Jo. Can you use your frame without the power advance? I do not have that add on. I am the power of advance. I do sometimes wish I did have it though. I have not been out shopping yet. I hope I can get American patchwork and quilting for the issue with your halloween quilt in it. Even if I don’t get around to making your quilt its cool I can say ” I sent some fabric for this one” and show it.
Really love how these quilts turned out! They are fantastic and the boys will love them!
Love these quilts they turned out great. I think they would be great for one of your area’s charity auction.
These tractor quilts are fabulous! I especially love the way you put their names on the back. They look so nice it makes me want to order the books.
Such wonderful work! They are darling. Making kids’ quilts is my very favorite. I have both those books and just finished a gingham version. Thanks so much for sharing!
You did a beautiful job with the quilts – and the boys will love and cherish them forever.
So happy you got the quilting machine fixed!
Love and prayers
Love the quilts. They turned out wonderful.
I’m sure Eli and Emmett will love them too.
Love the quilts, Jo! I’m sure those boys will treasure them forever!
Wonderful, love the quilts for the boys!
What sweet quilts. I’m sure they will be loved to pieces! You did a great job!
So cute! I am sure Kelli and the boys will love them. nice work, Jo!!
Love the tractor quilts, Jo! They are adorable. I’m sure they will be loved for years to come. Great job!
Gorgeous quilts for your grandsons, Jo! Love everything about them and am also thinking about buying her book/s after watching you make three such pretty ones.
Love the twin quilts for the twins!
Wishing you a wonderful weekend Jo!
Love these quilts, Jo! They turned out so well. Love the names on the back and use of recycled shirts.
May I ask what you used to embroider the steering wheel? Just regular floss? I want to embroider whiskers on some cats and am curious what you used. No rush. Thanks for thinking about this.
I used double thread of normal sewing thread.
Wow! Thanks for the quick reply!
Sounds easy enough. :)
Wonderful quilts. I hate it when I make a blooper. Alla well that ends well the quilts are so perfect. So glad Karl’s feeling better.
I’m so glad to know where those missing blocks went! Things like that stay in my mind lol. The quilts are so precious and your skill is great! Blessings!
I need to make a baby boy quilt for a little guy that was going to be a girl, I really like these I think I will get out my shirts and see what I can come up with. Also you may want to put the fuses in a zip lock bag with your machine manual and tape it to your long arm. I have started do this with appliances and it saves so much time.
I love these! Wonderful gifts for the boys!
They look great!
I love how the quilts came out. So adorable and perfect for a farmer’s sons!
These are absolutely adorable!
So happy for you that you got the quilting machine running!!! And those tractor quilts are just so cute. Well done grandma!!!!
Adorable quilts filled with so many thoughtful details! What lovely gifts for the boys.
Those quilts turned out SO CUTE!! Great job!
The quilts are super adorable and the boys will get lots of years to use them and love them. I really like how you added there names on the back, so sweet. Wonderful finish for sure.