Summer sewing, the little guys' quilts.

A lot of the things I do are done while sitting down, have you noticed this? This is a problem, and this has almost nothing to do with what I'm about to show you.. just thought I would mention it since my hips are expanding.

The Summer Sewing Project started with a truck book which became a favorite, (honestly it started with me wanting to make something for the Little Smile Bundle, but explanations can get overly involved and complicated, so I'll just say it was the book and move on) then we found the road work book with even more trucks, then I decided to make quilts for our little guys.
While searching the Internet for a pattern and ideas I ran across this one from Zebra Designs, and loved it. Isn't it so cute?



"Easy" "Fast" perfect!!
Various trucks run back and forth on a black road with a yellow broken line down the middle.
Shopping for those bright colored fabrics was so much fun.
(see that website on the pattern? http://www.zebrapatterns.com/) 
  

In June of 2011 two of my sisters, mom and I attended the National Quilt Show in Shipshewana, Indiana. We also took part in the "Shop Hop" which meant we visited 8 quilt shops, where I found the majority of the fabrics.
Most of the construction on the quilts was done at the lake last summer because when I'm home I'm usually running all over town with one thing or another. It was indeed enjoyable to have an indoor project at the lake, with no errands to run, sewing with a view of the water is delightful.

The truck pieces are cut from fabric that has been backed with a fusible adhesive then the pieces are ironed into place on background fabric. When all the trucks were stuck down I sewed around the edges, first with a straight stitch, later with a zigzag stitch to prevent fraying when the quilts are washed. I also prewashed all the fabrics so they will not shrink nor bleed color.




Zigzag stitching around one of the trucks.
About those black wheels,
there are approximately 74 of them in total.
I decided the best way to affix them was by hand sewing, after ironing them in place I did
a blanket stitch around each one while watching the Food Network. Or Top Chef. Or some other food related show.
Mercy.

One addition I made to the quilts was to add ribbon
loops to the top and bottom
for dragging around the house purposes.

Another "make the project your own" change was to create an excavator as an additional truck as that's
Sweetie Big brother's favorite truck.
It's the blue truck in the middle
of the second row with a yellow scooper-dumper.



The quilts are not identical so the boys can easily tell who's is who's. Plus their names are embroidered on one of the truck beds.

My sister found fabric she thought would be a nice addition, and it was! There's a black and white Dalmatian in the perfect size to be tucked into the fire truck window.

Now a good blogger would have taken a picture of that dog fabric. Nope.. didn't. Learn as you go SLG!

Took pictures of these guys though!

For the backing of the quilts I opted to use a soft textured fuzzy fabric. Something snugly.

Oh, there's the dog in the fire truck of Smile Bundle's quilt.

The construction was easy, that was true, but this project was supposed to be 'fast' and take just a couple of days, it took me from June to October! But it sure was fun.

I hope the boys enjoy them.

Now, for the next project... hmmm... maybe a star quilt..
Sideline Grandma