Making Two Quilts at a Time....Or a Two-fer!

Hi Everybody--

This is what has been up on my design wall recently.  It is the start of what will be a pair of go-together (no, not matching...I detest and reject that whole concept when it comes to my quilting) quilts for a set of twin beds that I have.

 

The bedroom furniture is very traditional, 80 years old and from Kentucky.  I know these specific details because the furniture was bought new by my grandparents shortly after they were married.  I'm looking forward to seeing the finished quilts in plaids and stripes from recycled men's shirts on these beds.

These are the units that I still have to draw on.  Oh, the decisions.  Not which pieces look good together, but am I concentrating too much of this particular blue plaid in this sector of the design?  What wonderful decisions to have to make!

The pattern is Smokey Mountain Stars from Bonnie Hunter's quiltville.com.  I wanted to do something fun with all the recycled shirts that I have been acquiring.  Actually, the shirts are taking over my entire house and I need to start using them up in a serious way.

Ergo, the idea of a two-fer!  It uses up twice the fabric as a single quilt.  There are also economies of scale with this approach.  Mostly it is the time saved cutting (cut enough for two quilts, but refold the fabric only as if for one), but also in planning the quilt.

This is the second time that I have made two go-together quilts simultaneously.  A few years ago, when I was making a series of Raggedy-Edge flannel quilts, I made a pair the same size and out of the same large set of about 50 flannel fabrics. They were for my two sons for their birthdays that year.

I did all the cutting first, then started quilting the small quilt sandwichs.  After that, I sorted them into two piles that had roughly about the same makeup of fabrics.  Finally, the two piles were transformed into warm and fuzzy flannel quilts that my boys both love and enjoy.

Keep on Quilting!