96 Charm Quillows

 I had a great idea! One of those ... thought about it in the shower and just had to do it ... RIGHT NOW! Forget about the fact that I might have other things on my "list". Forget about the fact that there might not be time. Forget about the fact that it might not work.

It worked!

I decided to make Quillows for 3 little girls in our family. We will be having an early Christmas on December 18th, which will involve cookie decorating but that's a whole 'nuther story.

These have been so much fun to make. Our M&M friend Lori Lewis hosted a novelty charm swap last year and I participated ... and acquired a LOT of charms.

First thing I did was sort through and make 3 stacks of charms, trying not to duplicate any fabric within each stack. Then I redesigned the 96-Charm Challenge layout.

Each quilt was a little different. The goal was to use what I already had in my sewing room. The redesign directions will be uploaded to the M&M Facebook group files.

With careful placement of the charms, an inner and outer CHARM border can be formed sew easily, with a final outer border added.

Amelia's quilt has shades of purple as the inner Charm border and musical notes as the outer charm border. Purple is always a favorite of little girls and I had enough 5" strips of several prints for the final border.

Paisley's quilt was actually the first try at the redesign. I wanted to use the red alphabet print as the outer border, but needed some separation from the busy center Charms. A light gray inner charm border and the red outer charm border worked. Using the same red fabric for the final border makes the whole thing "float." I love how it turned out.

And then there was Sage's quilt. I didn't have enough of the frogs for a charm border and an outer border. I used varying shades of blue solid for some separation, then several different darker charms for the outer charm border and finished it off with the frogs ... turned out CUTE!

All three of my littles live right here in Florida. They don't need warm quilts and they LOVE wrapping up and cozying under soft blankets. I left out the batting and simply quilted the tops with fleece - easy peasy. The quilts have a drapey feel which will get even softer with washing.

A QUILLOW? What is a quillow you ask?

These were first popular back in the 80's. As my littles really did not need more bed quilts (or so their mothers thought), I decided cuddle quilts that fold up into a pillow might work best ... it did!

Before attaching the binding, I stitched a 16" square pillow top. Laying the fabrics right sides together with a piece of scrap batting on top, I stitched around 3 sides, flipped it right side out and did some very simple straight line quilting. Center the open, unstitched end of the pillow top along the bottom BACK edge of the quilt and stitch the left and right side. Remember the bobbin thread will show on the quilt top. Leave the top edge of the pillow open.

  

Bind the quilt as normal. ALL of the binding for thesed three quilts came from my binding leftover bin. I did purchase the fabric for the "pillow" tops and I did purchase the fleece (with a coupon). Everything else came from the sewing room ... this was a GREAT stash buster.

When folded up in thirds in both directions, the quilt stuffs into the pillow, which is flipped out around the quilt. There are lots of Quillow instructions online. Honestly, I found most to be confusing so I was just winging it and it worked.

These are quilts that will be loved and washed and played with and get cozier and cozier. I think the 3 little girls are going to be very happy with their "Grammy blankets."