Farm Quilt #1 - John Deere panel

I figured it was time to start showing you some of the things I’ve been making. Here’s the first of the door prize quilts that Quilted Twins is going to provide for a door prize nest October. I told my sis I could whip up something using panels and it wouldn’t take very long.

But….

I had a lot harder time working with this panel than I expected to.

Why?

Well, I was thinking I wanted this quilt/young person and so I wanted to keep it simple - keep the panel the main thing!

But I didn’t bring back entirely the right fabrics for that. I actually took it apart once - something I don’t normally do. I had put a tractor fabric where I put the almost black - mostly because I thought it would look nice. Alas…I hated it, so I took the whole thing back down to that point and put in the black blender - it ends up more like charcoal than a pure black.

But I did this time.

I ended up with this simple design - aiming for about 70”x90” or so.

I will include a pillow case or two with it - depending on what I have left for fabric when I am all done!

The Dirt Magnet John Deere panel can be purchased here - and I think it is perfect for a typical boy!

I really don’t feel like this one merits a real pattern, but I can give you the measurements of what I did, if that will help.

Since this is a matter of borders, I sewed the ones to the sides first and then to the top and bottom. Just follow this diagram. I was aiming to make a twin size quilt out of a panel - and I wanted the panel to be the main thing.

A twin mattress is usually only 39” wide, so a 35” panel will basically fill the width of the top of the bed minus a bit on each side. That makes me quite happy - the rest just falls over the edge of the mattress.

I hope this helps.

But wait…This top has been bothering me. I felt like it needed “something”.

So last night I went and got one of my newly-maintenance d sewing machines and did some applique.

Now this is how it looks!

Ah…much better.

Now there isn’t that big dark spot under and above that panel.

I had purposely not put blocks there thinking they would distract from the middle. In the end, I think it needed something.

Here’s a close up:

Through it I gained a new appreciation for those of you who do applique. It is really is harder than it looks!

I used a coloring book picture. I could have tried my embroidery machine but I have never done applique on it before and didn’t want to learn on this quilt.

I can’t wait to actually finish these up and make up the rest of the set - using what I have available! I’ll be sure to show it at before I wrap it all in preparation for the door prize.

And that’s what I’ve been up to with this quilt top!

Stay tuned later this week for the second John Deere panel quilt and my queen size farm quilt! All three are going to part of the Farm Burea door prizes next fall. (That’s the plan anyway.)

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Be sure to check out what my sis has for you over in the store. She’s working hard to keep you in wonderful fabrics at prices you can afford!

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