Paul's Big Boy quilt goes to the weekly themed contest

I have posted this quilt before but Quilting Gallery has selected scrappy quilts for this weeks weekly themed contest, and this quilt is a lot scrappier than it appears at first glance.

I was attracted to this block many years ago in a quilt magazine and it looked like the perfect take-along project. (three pieces sewed into a 5" block and then four of those joined into a 10" block.

I went into my green and blue bins and cut one piece from each fabric in the bin, then sewed dark, medium, and light  together to make the small blocks.

When the larger blocks were laid out for arrangement, I was not satisfied with the way they looked so added sashing. When I went back to the magazine to see what went wrong, I found that though the pattern had shown the arrangement of those tones, the original picture that had attracted me in the first place did not keep that same arrangement of darks and lights.  One day I may try this again as a "stash buster".

Remembering my childhood tracing quilting lines with my fingers, I drafted the border and sashing quilting so it would all link up. It made it fun to quilt, following the lines over and under around the top.

For the backing I chose tenugui with the twelve animals of the Oriental Zodiac. Since Paul is a dragon, I added another dragon across the top and dragonfly yukata fabric along one side to match up the size of the top piece.

When we had a family reunion, Paul brought his quilt and all the family signed their names and birth dates on their own animals.

This is the year of the dragon, which means little Paul is now 12 years old. He really is a "big boy".
Oh how those years have flown! Before we know it, my first grandchild will be a teenager!







I just can't seem to add a link but if you click on the quilting gallery logo, you can go there to see some amazing quilts and cast your votes for your favorite.

Paul's "Big Boy" Quilt 2008

Started in April as a carry-along project, I went through my stash of greens and blues. I assembled 3 sizes into a 5" block and those were again combined to make a 10" block.

Designed to be sewed together, they just didn't work when laid out on Sue and Pete's living-room floor in June. At Sue and Cyndi's suggestion, the navy sashing and a blue+green border were added and Kimie helped with the arrangement during her July visit.


It didn't look like much of a "kids" quilt so I decided to use the zodiac animal towels for the reverse side. Paul made a trip to Ginza to pick up a dragon for the top border since little Paul is a dragon. To make the backing large enough I added a strip of dragonfly yukata fabric.

The idea is to have the family members sign their names and birthdays on the animals. I drafted the quilting design and made the templates. The idea was to have and interlocking pattern. I hope this will make up for his baby quilt which had become too small now that he has a big bed. 76" x 86" (193cm x 218.5 cm)