The tale of a flannel throw blanquet

Pen, ink and watercolor on Handbook 8" x 16"

This is my recent quilt project. A flannel throw blanket for dad fully designed by truely yours. 

I asked him if he would prefer a color and he asked for a beige or brown color. Well I couldn't do that fully, he doesn't know I threw few colors in there yet, ha!

I jumped into the unknown, a bigger quilt project which turned out to be more time consuming than I calculated, but I like challenges and changes that spices my hobbies. The sketch above shows the pile of squares. Cutting takes a looong time! This was the only sketch I did of the project, I did it as a break form all that fabric dizziness.

Next you will see photos.  

For the lack of a big table I worked on the floor. I laid the fabric squares and played with composition considering value as a did in my pillow project.

Here I secured the three layers of the quilt with safety pins.

I drew circles with watercolor pencil. I tasted it before, it washes away. Who knew this drawing tool would be useful for other than drawing on paper!

And then the fun begun, for the first time I tried hand quilting. Only thing is that flannel releases a lot of lint, which I think I was breathing in, ugh!

The back of the quilt isn't perfect, has some wrinkles here and there, well not really, they are all over, but they add the charm of a handmade product.

 It's cozy and warm.

Do you see how the watercolor pencil lines disappeared after the wash?

I was warned this 54" x 72" blanket would shrink 2" or 3". I was advised to wash the fabric first, but I didn't listen. The flannel shrunk 5" and 7" respectively! That's 10%! Funny fact. While making this I complained to my husband numerous times this blanket was too big! It shrunk to the size I liked it best! This mistake worked in my favor but I learned my lesson.

Now that the blanket is washed and smells nicely, I folded and stored it to bring it with me in my next visit to dad. 

Now I need to "unquilt" my head. This project was very satisfactory but I went beyond my limits. I should take a break before I do a new one. Now....back to sketching!