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Adventures of Thumbelina Children's Quilt

This quilt is pretty simple and easy to make, but it looks great. It's perfect for charity or as a gift. It uses the blue- and redwork designs and each block features part of the Adventures of Thumbelina. Children love following the story on their own.

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The finished size is about 43" x 54". The embroidery designs used are: Thumbelina Bluework Set, Garden Flower Redwork Set and Rose Bluework Set.

We used about 3/4 yard of white fabric, and a lot of scrap 2" x 2" squares in various blue tones. For the sashing and binding we used about 1/2 yard of bright yellow fabric, and for the border about 1/2 yard of pale blue fabric.

You will also need a piece of batting and fabric for backing.

For embroidery, we used embroidery polyester threads.

Cutting:

For the block and the first border we used 416 blue squares measuring 2" x 2". All these squares are leftovers from past projects. If you do not have this many scraps, cut a strip from any light blue fabrics you have and subcut them into 2" x 2" squares.

Out of white fabric, cut 12 squares measuring 8" x 8".

Out of bright yellow fabric
for the sashing, cut 8 strips 2" wide and the length of the width of the fabric, subcut them into 17 strips 11 1/2" long, 2 strips 49" long, and 2 strips 39 1/2" long;
for the binding, cut 5 strips 2 1/2" wide and the length of the width of the fabric.

Out of pale blue fabric, cut the borders. You will need 2 strips measuring 2 1/2" x 38"
and 2 strips measuring 2 1/2" x 54 1/2".

The Block

The block used is very simple. Stitch 2 strips consisting of 5 squares each.
Sew the strips to the upper and lower sides of a white square.

Stitch 2 strips consisting of 7 squares each.
Sew the strips to the left and wright sides of the white square.

Make 12 blocks.

The Sashing

Sew 3 strips consisting of 3 yellow strips and 2 blue squares each:

Assembly of the Top

Stitch the rows of the quilt. Each row has 3 blocks with stripes of yellow sashing between the blocks. You'll get 4 rows:

Stitch the rows and the sashing strips together.

Attach the 47" yellow strips to the left and right sides of the quilt.
Attach the 38" yellow strips to the upper and lower sides of the quilt.

Sew 2 strips consisting of 25 squares each.

Attach the new strips to the upper and lower sides of the quilt.

Sew 2 strips consisting of 35 squares each. Attach them to the left and right sides of the quilt.

Attach the borders. First sew the upper and lower borders ( 2 1/2" x 38" light blue strips), then sew the left and right borders (2 1/2" x 54 1/2" light blue strips)

Embroidery

Stabilize each block with polyester craft felt instead of stabilizer. Baste the quilt top to the felt in the ditch along the colored borders. After the embroidery is finished, rip the baste and cut away the excess felt around the embroidery. Make one block at a time.
We embroidered the designs from the Thumbelina Bluework Set, Garden Flower Redwork Set and Rose Bluework Set.

Quilting:

Now place the backing on a flat surface (table) face down. Cover with batting. Spread your working piece over it.

Pin all three layers together with 1" pins and start quilting. We quilted along the lines of the embroidery and made stippling all over the wall hanging.

After the quilting is finished, press the work with heavy steam and square the work -- all corners should be 90 degrees and opposite sides should be of the same length.

Finish the raw edges with the binding.