Friday, November 26, 2021

Plus Playtime Plus Quilt

Yep, that title is correct. I'm putting it down to another menopausal brain fart, but I have it in some places as Plus Playtime, and in others as Playtime Plus! In the QAL and and in my Google docs pattern doc it is Plus Playtime, but for some reason on Instagram I started the hashtag playtimeplusquilt, so therein lies my own confusion. Whatever. This quilt, a commissioned one, is done!
A veritable rainbow of dancing plus blocks!

This delightful customer has bought a few things from me, the most recent being the original plus quilt that I designed for Benartex ezine a few years ago. She bought it for her niece's new baby, and had told me she'd love for me to make a quilt for her daughter's baby, due in January, her first grandchild. When she saw the plus quilt in person, she kind of swooned and said, "Make one just like this for my daughter and I'd be so happy."

Well, I didn't have the fabrics anymore, or just wee scraps of some of them, so I knew that wouldn't happen. However, I sent her a photo of the smaller size I'd made using Alison Glass prints which I called A Bright Addition. She LOVED it, and so that is what this quilt is based upon, though it's the throw size. 

Quilted with Aurifil Dove Grey 2600

I asked her if she'd like the same quilting motif, a fun one of Christina Cameli's out of her book, Step by Step Free Motion Quilting (highly recommend; loads of great motifs), and she said yes!


I nearly went with a wide back, but then I had a pretty good chunk of the unicorn tails fabric left from my second Follow Your Own Path. She loved it, so then I rooted around to see what I could put with it, and found this precious Laurel Burch fabric. She was smitten. She said her daughter hates cats, but she's hoping the baby will love them. There are a few dogs in the print too, and the grandma-to-be has two dogs, so there!

You might have seen the pile of rainbow binding on Instagram, another suggestion I made that was met with great enthusiasm. Of the 17 small plus prints, 13 are in the binding.

I did my little trademark signature in the bottom corner.
I've left room in the opposite corner to stitch in the baby's name between the flowing lines. Consequently, the quilt hasn't been washed yet. Isn't that 'xo' fabric adorable? I bought 1/2 yard at JoAnn's a couple of years ago to make a baby quilt one day for my shop... I had just and I mean just enough for this quilt.

Binding was done by machine.

When it was close to being finished quilting on Avril, we were chatting (she's one of my yoga students) and it came up that she loves the cloth labels and details I write on them, and well, I hadn't thought she'd want one on this quilt...

Not to worry; I hand stitched one on, the perfect one! Unicorns! I told her I will give her the pen and she can write the baby's name and from nana/mimi/grandma if she likes. Then I will add a quilted line or bubble to secure the label. I find it helps keep it flatter, and more secure: in case the quilt is ever stolen, it's harder to remove.

I absolutely love combing through my stash, combining various lines of fabrics and creating a wonderful quilt. My sweet customer is thrilled with it, and has promised me a photo of it in her back yard, which happens to be the shore of Lake Erie! She has to wait until it's not so windy, so it might be a while!

The pattern should be out within the week; it came to a screeching halt because I've gotten a few custom orders for quilted items this past week. That means I've added a few more squirrels, I mean makeup pouches, to my shop, for one of the items, which you'll find out about tomorrow in my monthly DrEAMi post. This weekend it is my goal to finish the pattern and send it to Yvonne at Quilting Jet Girl for tech-editing. It will have two sizes of the quilt, which sews up in a snap, and a pattern for a tote, the one I designed for Bernie when I curated the Blogger Bundle a few years ago. 

Quilt Stats:
Pattern: Plus Playtime by moi, mmmquilts
Size: 54.5" square
Fabric: scraps and stash
Backing: scraps and stash
Batting: Warm n White 100% cotton
Quilted: on Avril;  82 600 stitches
Threads: pieced with Gütermann cotton; quilted with Aurifil cotton 50 wt; The Bottom Line in the bobbin.

Thank you again to those who bought stuff at Connecting Threads through my links. I never know just who does, only see my commission (10%) and the order total, so thank you all who did so. Hobbs Batting is 25% off and that, my friends is amazing, especially when they have great free shipping minimums.

12 comments:

  1. Haha, thanks for the heads up to watch my inbox for this fun pattern. :) It's a lovely quilt and it's so nice to know that your customer appreciates the fabric labels.

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  2. Love it & hope the new bub does too. Well done & I sometimes forget what I've called a quilt, especially my own designs & I'd possibly end referring to it as the PP quilt(giggle). Take care & hugs.

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  3. I too sometimes call my pattern a different name, can be a little confusing at times( okay more than a little confusing). Love the quilt!

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  4. What fun to see this pattern again and in those bright, happy colors! That XO fanric is perfect, too!

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  5. Beautiful quilt and I love those colors. Your customer sounds so sweet and easy to work with. Love the quilting and the back as well.

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  6. Hi Sandra! What a wonderful customer to work with!! She seems amiable to everything you suggested - can't ask for more than that. This is one of my favorite patterns of quilts that we've made. As a beginning FMQer when we participated in the QAL, this provided me the opportunity to try different stitches in each plus. Could that XO fabric BE any more perfect?!! I think that was a sweet buy! {{Hugs}} ~smile~ Roseanne

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  7. Wonderful quilt - you know I loved this one! What fun to have an order to make a second quilt similar but different from the first, even if it was due to lack of fabric. Love the hand done label. Such fun seeing this great quilt again.

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  8. Sounds like you and your customer had a wonderful relationship - culminating in a lovely quilt. I have that book of Christina's too - inspirational!

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  9. My goodness, what a lovely Playtime Plus Quilt - my favorite version of a Plus Quilt thus far! It certainly lives up to the "Playtime" part of it's name! Such lovely quilting as well! Now I completely understand why it's so important I participate in conversations with my LAQ! Choosing a design is intimidating for me, but now, I will give our conversations more pondering so that I can participate. Thank you so much for sharing!

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  10. Isn't it great when you and the customer get to work together like that. A fun, colourful and beautiful quilt, and the quilting looks very playful too.

    -Soma

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  11. So fun to see this pattern again. And the rainbow binding has me drooling. It sounds like you had an amazing customer to work with. I think it must make doing a commission that much more enjoyable.

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  12. That made for a fabulous baby quilt, Sandra!! I'll be looking forward to the pattern release.

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