Tuesday, March 8, 2011

ticker tape quilt oops...card

Happy Birthday, Carter! In honor of our third grandson's third birthday I made him a big card. So fun to have him in our family.
This one uses a technique I have not used before; ticker tape or the lazy woman's tile quilt. A way to use a very small amount of scraps in an attractive way.... As simple as it looks it took several hours to do. If you want to try it I highly recommend a washable glue instead of pins to hold the pieces down. I used Elmer's washable school glue. A glue stick would have worked also. I laid it out last night, pressed it then went to bed. I put the borders on this morning. I quilted it after lunch, then washed it to get the marker (under Carter) and to see how badly, nicely it will fray.
I found a scrap of flannel to use for the batting and 3 different green solids for the border. I have a theme of 3's going on here; 3 different greens in the border then 3 fabrics are used 3 times...(actually 4 but for the fourth each patch looks very different and no 3 year old could figure it out unless they knew the fabric.) I quilted/attached each of the 3 with red thread and used green for the others. I did not bind it, just 'pillowcased' it then top stitched close to the fold. Here it is before washing: Here's a picture of a bigger 'tile' quilt. Here is an antique, non lazy tile quilt.

What I now know:
  1. The 'grout' lines get bigger when it is washed; my 1/4 inch gap is now closer to 1/2". It's okay, I just didn't think it through.
  2. I will not do this in a bigger quilt. Sewing around each patch would drive me nuts.
  3. The flannel shrank just a bit more than I wanted. I'm pretty sure it was washed twice before since I used it for the back of Liz's I Spy quilt. (Liz DO NOT dry your quilt in the dryer.)
  4. I liked trying this in the small size; getting finished in a short amount of time. I think I'll continue experimenting on my grandchildren's 'cards.'
  5. I may have to make all my 'cards' green. See photo below; a green explosion in the sewing room:for some reason I have more green scraps than any other color.

3 comments:

Liz Johnston said...

we like it! Carter said he will hide in it.. I think he thinks it is bigger than a big card.

bingo~bonnie said...

I la,la,love your Birthday "Card" for your grnadson!!! It turned out very cute!

I made one in all pinks last year for my oldest daughter and it's been used and loved and washed dozens of times - and just keeps looking great!

Below is my link to where I blogged about it. Like you I learned a lot of what not to do - or what to do better next time.... lol

My twins are 3 truning 4 this summer and I've already started setting aside scrpas of greens to use for one for Paul Thomas as that is his FAVORITE color! :) For reals! every. single. coloring sheet he brings home from preschool is marked up 100% green. Yep, even the baby Jesus at Christmas time and his manger were GREEN :P

I love that you included a tractor in Carters and HIS NAME! I know he's loving that!!! Thanks for posting this - I've printed it out and am gonna get started soon for my twins... the pink one I made for Nora has been used not only as a doll quilt but it's also the perfect size for placemat size at the table and also handy for across the lap for food when going thru McDonald's drive up window... :)

http://bingobonnie.blogspot.com/search/label/doll%20quilt

Love from Texas! ~bonnie

bingo~bonnie said...

oh and I didn't use pinking sheers on mine but noticed you did - that is a great touch :)

and I too noticed I had a lot of white space on mine after it was washed... I think this next time I'll put them closer together when sewing. ;)

Bonnie