I ordered this panel and coordinating fabrics for my shop.
The fabric company had a quilt designed using these but I didn't really like their design. So I came up with my own design.
It finishes at 54" by 76" and we kitted it up. Kits are available in our Etsy Shop and in store. These kits are only available from my shop because I wrote the pattern.
I used a snowflake wide back for the backing, shown below.
If you purchase a kit and want this backing fabric to go with it you will need 1 3/4 yards. Again, the kit is available in store and in our Etsy Shop. Most things in our Etsy Shop have free shipping and I can include backing fabric in the same box as the kit.
I should also mention that everything in the Etsy Shop shows that we have only one in stock. This is misleading. Etsy charges listing fees to shops by the item. So most shops on Etsy only list one item at a time even if they physically have more than one of the item. It just saves us money. So if you see something in our Etsy Shop and want more than one, just contact me. Chances are I do actually have more than one of most things. The exception would be completed quilts.
My aunt sent me a stack of completed blocks and what she thought was all the fabric and the full pattern to finish this quilt. What I actually got was most of the completed blocks, ONE square each of the fabrics for the setting triangles (not nearly enough to finish the quilt) and what looked like the left over fabric that was used for the sashing (again, not nearly enough). There was no outer border fabric or binding fabric and the pattern was only the final month pattern that told how to assemble the rows and put on the borders.
Using the photo of the completed quilt included on the first page of the part of the pattern I received I figured out how to make the missing blocks. Some rows were complete, others I had to make one or two blocks and one row I had to make all of the blocks. I used the setting triangle fabrics I received to pick fabrics from my shop that were similar since one block of each fabric was not enough.
My long arm quilter used a baptist fan pattern for the quilting which turned out really nice.
Here is what it was supposed to look like:
I think I did pretty good at being true to the original. This was obviously a block of the month style pattern probably from the 1990s. I do not have the full pattern and have no idea where one could find it. I traded, begged and borrowed fabrics to make the missing blocks because I do not have any of this style fabric in my stash. Luckily I have a few friends who collected this style of fabric back in the 1990s and they were willing to part with enough for me to make the blocks I needed.
I carry a good selection of Kim Diehl and Jo Morton fabrics in my shop and those are what I pulled from for the setting triangles, sashing, border and binding fabrics.
Are you familiar with Connie Haley? Google her if you aren't to see all of her great designs. Now a fabric company has started working with her to get her designs on fabric. This quilt uses one of her lines, Great Outdoors, that I got in my shop this year.
Here is the quilt.
The front has a newspaper print in it and I used a slightly different colorway of this print for the back.
Here are the fabrics from the line that I ordered. The first is a panel and second/third are the coordinates. All but the last one are used in the quilt top.
The quilt finishes at 56" by 56" which is the perfect size for an RV quilt, a lap quilt or a really nice sized wall hanging. The piecing is fairly simple allowing the awesome fabrics to do all the work!
If you want a kit, you can go to the Etsy shop, Alamosa Quilt Company on Etsy, to purchase it. The kit does not include the backing fabric but I'd be happy to add some to your order. If you look closely at the quilt you will notice that the allover camper fabric (last one in the photos above) is not used on the front of the quilt. It would also make a nice backing for the quilt or you could use the newsprint one like I did. Just convo me through Etsy if you want to add backing fabric.
Did you know that I have opened an Etsy shop in addition to my brick and mortar shop? You can check it out by clicking this link, Alamosa Quilt Company on Etsy. If you do a search for my shop on Etsy, you need to search for AlamosaQuiltCompany with no spaces. This is the easiest way I could find to quickly get an online shop up and running for my physical shop. If you click the link you will notice that there aren't a lot of items up for sale yet in the Etsy shop. The problem with online shops is that it takes 15-30 minutes per item to list things for sale in the shop. I don't have a lot of "extra" time laying around so it will take me a while to get things listed. I am going to concentrate on kits at first, especially ones that are unique to my shop.
That brings me to my Woodland Animals quilt. This kit is unique to my shop.
This quilt started with the animal blocks fabric. Honestly, I didn't make this quilt. I asked one of my employees to "do something cute and unique" with the animal blocks fabric. This is what she came up with. I thought it was so cute that I had her kit it up.
The backing fabric is one of the many Australian Aboriginal fabrics I carry in my shop.
If you want a kit for this project you can click over to the Etsy shop and purchase it. The kit does not include the backing fabric, but I would be happy to add that to your order for you if you would like. All you need to do is convo me through Etsy.
The kit is also for sale in my physical shop. So if you are ever in Alamosa, Colorado, stop in, say hello, and you can pick up the kit directly from the shop.
What you will need:
Fabric and the pattern, download it here, you will need to scroll down a bit. Below the header image is a link to download the pattern for the surgical cap. 5/8 yard of fabric will make four caps but you can also use scraps. The pieces don't have to all be from the same fabric.
Be sure your printer settings are correct: no scaling, print at 100%, uncheck the "fit to page" box if it is checked. If you have problems printing the pattern and want me to mail you a printed copy send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:
Alamosa Quilt Company
710 Del Sol Drive
Alamosa, CO 81101
Simply slip a note inside that says "please send me a surgical cap pattern" and I will pop one in the mail to you right away. If you are local, you can just stop in and ask for a printed copy of the pattern.
After you have your pattern, I suggest you keep the original somewhere safe. Then print or trace a copy of the pattern onto freezer paper. You can use the freezer paper pattern multiple times. When it stops sticking to your fabric just make a new one.
Cutting: cut a 9" by WOF (width of fabric) strip. It comes off the bolt folded in half. I folded it in half again so that you have a 9" by about a 10" piece. Iron or pin your pattern piece to this.
Then cut out around the pattern piece. This will give you four cap tops.
From the remaining fabric, cut (2) 3.5" by WOF strips, subcut these into (4) 3.5" by 19.5" rectangles. These will be the hat bands. Finally, cut (4) 1.5" by WOF strips for the ties. You could also use 1/2" or 3/8" double fold bias tape. I prefer to make my own for most things so this isn't something I have in my stash, AND there is no need for this to actually be cut on the bias. Notice that I didn't tell you to cut these on the bias, just a regular width of fabric straight cut is fine. Trim the selvedges off the ends of the tie pieces before continuing.
To make a cap you will need one of each piece, that is, one cap top (cut from pattern piece), one cap band (3.5" by 19.5") and one cap tie (1.5" by WOF).
On the cap top, press under the straight edge 1/4" twice. On the cap band, press under the two short sides 1/4" twice.
Since you are at the ironing board already, take the tie, press it in half lengthwise.
Then open it up and press both raw edges to the center seam. At each short end, press it in about 1/4" to conceal the raw edge inside once it is sewn.
And then press it back in half again on the original fold you made.
Go to your sewing machine and topstitch the edges you pressed under on the cap top and cap band.
Fold the tie in half and the cap band in half. Mark the centers. Do the same for the cap top, but the center mark you make needs to be on the side opposite the one you topstitched, the edge that has the rounded corners.
I like to give them a press rather than use a pin. In the photo below, the tip of the scissors are pointing at the pressed center of the band and the tie is clipped to the bottom edge of the cap band. The tie is longer than the cap band. Just match up the centers and clip/pin them together so that the ties are the same length on either side, or at least pretty close to the same length. This doesn't have to be perfect!
Before you sew, make sure that you have the tie on the BOTTOM edge of the cap band. In the photo below I wanted the sleeping kitty to be right side up so the tie is going on the edge below the kitty. It won't make a bit of difference in the functionality of the cap if the kitty is upside down, but if your fabric is directional and if this kind of thing bothers you, take the time to make sure your motifs are right side up.
Topstitch the tie closed and to the cap band. I just start sewing at one end of the tie right across to the other end.
Now match up the centers of the cap band and the cap top, pin or clip.
Then match up the two ends of the cap band to the back of the cap top (the edge that you topstitched). Add a few more clips or pins in between.
Using a 1/4" seam allowance, sew the cap band to the cap top. Don't worry if there are a few puckers or if your seam allowance gets a little wider than 1/4". Again, this doesn't have to be perfect!
I took a close up picture of a portion of my seam to show you that even this one isn't perfect, but the cap will function just fine! My scissors are pointing to the less than perfect match up.
As a final touch, zig zag over the raw edges of this seam. This will help tame the fraying. As an alternative, if you have a serger, you could use it to serge the final seam instead of sewing and then zigzagging.
Turn the cap right side out and you are done!
If you are local, bring your completed caps to the shop. As needed I will take them over to our hospital for their stash of these caps. The kids get to choose which cap they want before surgery. Also, if you want to make size adjustments to the pattern to make some smaller versions, feel free. This one fits smaller adult heads as well as most children. The ties help to make it more adjustable.
Thank you to the several children and their parents who came into the shop while I was working on the pattern and allowed me to try it on them!
Well this has been a crazy finish for the class of 2020! My senior has been a real trooper through all this, doing what has to be done for school online and on time without too much nagging by his parents.
Ms. Spooky Boo has been very happy to have her boy home all day!
They snuggle like this every day!
And I have his graduation quilt completed!
I went ahead and gave it to him so he could put it on his bed now. He has been using his Cub Scout quilt that I made him about 10 years ago! We don't even know if he will be able to go off to college in the Fall. Many universities are formulating contingency plans in case students won't be able to be on campus in the Fall.
For those with inquiring minds, he is going to Western University in Gunnison, Colorado. One last photo of the graduation quilt and the graduate.
I know many of you have had lots of extra sewing time in the past few weeks. Unfortunately, that has happened for me. I have been able to carve out a little bit of sewing time, but I have spending most of my energies trying to figure out how to run a business that has been forced to close. That is a depressing topic so I won't say any more about it here.
I got my Circle Play Pin Cushion mostly finished.
I still need to actually sew this up into a pin cushion, but the hand work is done. I used the Circle Play kit and have it for sale in my shop. If you want a kit leave me a comment or shoot me an email. The kit is $34.99 and includes all of the fabrics plus the button and the pattern. You supply the thread although I have all of the threads required for this in my shop too.
Unfortunately, I don't have an online shop yet. That is still on the list but now I don't know how much of my list for this year I will actually be able to do. An online shop is high on the list but I have to prioritize based on finances and time too. There is too much uncertainty right now for me to know when I will be able to build an online store. But you can contact me directly to place an order. Click here to go directly to the contact information page on my shop website. You can also contact me through my shop Facebook page. Here is the link for that.
