Sewing Project - Musical/Blue Dots Blanket

I am back to sewing!

I finished this blanket this week.

Music Squares with Blue Dots

Final Size: 41W x 67.00T inches

Technique: Front QAYG Mom Style onto foundation layer which is poly cotton.  Quilted the front to the backing traditionally.

Colors: Yellow, Khaki and Navy

Squares: 10.5 inches 

The squares came from the ReUse Center. Nice quilting cotton.

The yellow sashing is cotton poly fabric.

The backing is army green 100% cotton flannel.

It took 3 days to complete but after almost a 2 year break from sewing I am happy with that.

I added blue dots to fix a problem where the sashing seam had missed the fabric. I put heat and bond behind a blue batik fabric and cut 5 circles with my SB smooth round thinlets.  I adhered them to the quilt then applied hand stitching which was crazy hard because of the glue.

The flannel backing is dark and will be useful for needing less laundering.

You can see the quilting in the shape of squares.

The quilting was done with a thread that matched the flannel so they are not very visible and the same on the front. 

I used yellow thread when I sewed the sashing.

I had to pin it very well with my quilting pins as it had to go through the throat of the sewing machine.

I cut a 6 inch square of paper which I used for the quilting of the front to the flannel back. I angled the template so they are wonky and do not track the edges of the yellow sashing.

I followed the edge of the paper with my sewing machine foot which worked very well.

I did a variety of hand stitching on the blue dots but it was very difficult for 2 reasons.

I had to make holes in the glue with a large pin so I could get my embroidery needle through.

It was already all finished so I could not use a stab stitch and go through right to the back. I had to stay between the foundation layer and the flannel.  I did have to undo quite a few stitches because I caught the flannel.

Note: I was aware of the issue and did not think it through before finishing the quilt.  Would have been much easier to fix then it was just the front and foundation layer.

Sashing measured 2.50 inches between the squares.  I cut the sashing strips (3"x11") for in between the squares and sewed those in between to create 3 columns of squares. Then, I cut the tall vertical sashing strips 3 by 70" to go in between the square columns. Then I sewed the columns to the foundation layer.  My front was too small because I had missed the outside sashing.

Note:  When I started sewing the columns to the foundation layer I started with a musical square column but it should have been a sashing column.  I should have cut the side sashing strips as well and maybe I would not have missed them.

Now I had a blanket with no outside sashes at all.   After a think overnight, I decided the only choice was to cut the foundation layer to the edge of the sandwich I had and add strips of foundation layer and yellow sashing to top, bottom, left and right sides. The flannel layer was the size I needed for the final blanket so I just left that the size it was.

I sewed the extra yellow sash/foundation layer to the top and bottom then cut the side pieces to the 70 inches.  Then sewed those in place right and left sides.

Fortunately, I decided to fold the sashing from the front to the back for a binding before I cut the outside strips. Now the strips needed to be 5 inches wide instead of just 3 inches. 

Learnings: 

I have to reacquaint myself with Quilt As You Go so I get it right next time.  Pushing the bulk through the the throat of the machine was no fun.

Addressing the sash issue right away would have saved me a lot of headache.

This blanket will be donated to Project Linus.