I just had to make another one of the super-quick lap quilts. We have a new step-granddaughter who is 4 and I think she will absolutely love the pink sweetness and rainbows on this bright flannel. To avoid a sugar coma, I backed it with white fleece instead of trying to match the pink.
I made the label myself. I fused interfacing to the back of white cotton, then printed what I wanted it to say. I heat-set it with my iron, trimmed, and hemmed it. Not all printer inks will be colorfast, and I originally tried something with color in it. The black held, but the color washed away. Always do a test patch! As a sweet added touch, I couched pink ribbon around the edge with extra at the beginning and ending, and tied it into a bow.
Simple to make, this quilt can be whipped up in a few hours and make a child happy all winter long.
quick lap quilt
I made these in snuggle-quilt size for a child, but the same steps apply if you want to make it adult size or large enough for a bed. No batting needed.
My husband and I couldn’t resist the monkey and frog fabrics we found in flannel one day. I had already made lap quilts for the two of us using cotton for the front (not pieced, whole cloth) and batting with flannel backing. I wondered how it would work to use fleece for the backing. It would be soft, and warm and heavy enough to replace the batting as well.
For each quilt I purchased 1 1/2 yards of flannel fabric and 1 1/2 yards of a coordinating color of fleece. I knew there would be some leftover, but it’s never wasted.
I prewashed the flannel and trimmed it. Then I laid it out on my cutting table with one corner of the flannel matching a corner of the fleece. I cut the fleece with 2 inches overlap on the other two sides.
Then I repositioned the flannel so there was 1 inch of fleece overlap on all sides. Turn the fleece from the back to the front and pin to the flannel. No need to finish the edge of the fleece, as it won’t ravel.
I made mitered corners by first folding over the point at the corner, then folding down the two sides of the miter. Pin very well.
Because the fleece may tend to get caught between the toes of a presser foot, I used a teflon foot with a flat bottom, and the left position for my needle. I simply topstitched around.
teflon presser foot with roller
Then comes the fun part! I used the darning/embroidery foot and machine quilting thread, and hopped all over the quilt. No need to baste or pin, the flannel grabs the fleece and holds tight, and in doing both quilts I had only one instance of a wrinkle being stitched in place. I blame being distracted, and a careful person wouldn’t have that happen.
darning foot
I moved all around the frogs, sometimes even twice, to secure the layers of fabric together. I could have added shapes, or hearts, or even the grandson’s name, but I left it as a meander stitch.
I wrote down the times as I did the steps. I was very surprised I went from pre-washed fabric in the first photo, to the finished product in only 1 hour 50 minutes. Perception is odd, isn’t it? I was thinking it took so much longer than that.
Here’s the breakdown:
30 minutes to press the prewashed flannel, trim off the selvage, make sure it’s square, trim the fleece to 2″ larger each direction, reposition to 1″ overlap all around, and pin the fleece as a self-binding.
15 minutes to stitch the binding along 4 edges.
65 minutes to change the presser foot on the machine and meander-stitch the body of the quilt. The timing on this part depends on how densely you stitch.
Very quick and very easy to make. Finished size on these is 41 1/2″ by 53″. The fleece backing is so snuggly I really don’t want to give up the quilts, but I’m going to force myself to wrap them and put them under the tree so I don’t change my mind. I can just see two little boys watching TV with these quilts, or sitting in their mother’s lap under the quilt to hear a story.
I had sent this quilt to my niece before her precious boy, Chris, was born. This past Tuesday her apartment building was hit by lightning and all 11 units were unliveable as a result. Nobody was injured, but all her baby things were burned up, and her son is only a month old. I couldn’t do much for her, being several states away in distance, but I could replace the quilt I made for her.
This is my quick version of a baby quilt. I checked my stash and I had enough of this adorable baby safari animal fabric for a whole-cloth top. I cut some backing and batting to fit, and started meander-quilting with my machine.
I’m just using the hopping (darning) foot and pushing and pulling the quilt around. My husband says he just loves that kind of quilting. I think of two things as I do this: one is a jigsaw puzzle piece. I make the lines go in and out, up and down, more curvy than straight. I also remember a Sunday comic that was my favorite, Family Circus, when Billy took his time going around the neighborhood. Very distractable boy.
I finished with a mossy green binding and it’s done. As soon as I know her new address, I’ll be sending it to my niece to wrap her precious baby in.
I worked a bit yesterday and today on some string quilt blocks. I sewed some, organized the strips (as they had been pushed aside while I worked on other projects), and cut more strips.
I figured out a shortcut: I cut the strips very long, not to a certain length. I can use them for the center strip, then cut off the end and use the rest wherever it fits. Better than pre-cutting it, I think.
I felt I needed more variety in my fabrics so I set to work cutting more today. Now I have piles ready to go when I have a few minutes.
In thinking about the family’s grandchildren having babies, I’m reminded of some favorite quilts I’ve made in the past.
This quilt had a variety of patches sewn together, starting with a 4-patch center and some other combinations that I cannot remember after all this time. I believe I made this about 12 -13 years ago. This was before I had a rotary cutter and mat, and to cut a piece of fabric I measured and marked and cut with my scissors. I might be willing to try this quilt again, now that quilting science has advanced past the horse and buggy equivalent!
I very much enjoyed making this quilt! I took a whole cloth, added contrasting borders and appliqued satin stars and a moon. With the extra starry fabric, I made my favorite chubby floppy bear toy. This was given about 11 years ago.
Quilt in Progress 
