Presenting Gwyneth's Quilt!

For my granddaughter's 7th Birthday (in 2010), I gave her a box full of pre-cut, ready to assemble, quilt squares that she and I could tie together to create a No Sew Quilt in the size of 81" X 54". - total of 54, 9" squares. ( I pre cut and sandwiched the squares with iron on fusible quilt batting and cotton backing)

I used as my guide, a project from Joanns.com 
http://www.joann.com/no-sew-calico-quilt/xprd73257/?_requestid=621581  

New Sew Quilt
 Directions:
1. Wash and dry calico fat quarters and backing.
2. Cut a 15" square from each fat quarter. From scraps, cut twenty-four
1⁄4" x 9"strips. Set aside.
3. Cut a 3" square from each corner of the 15 calico squares.
4. With wrong sides together, align edges of two squares. With chalk pencil or erasable marker, draw a line 3" from edge along one side. Cut fringe (both squares at the same time) about 1⁄4" wide, stopping cut at drawn line.
5. Tie top and bottom fringe together. When opened, squares should be joined by knotted fringe. Repeat with remaining squares so you have 12 sections of 2 squares.
6. Create rows by tying 3 sections together. (Rows should be 6 blocks long.) Tie rows together using same technique.
7. Layer backing (wrong side facing up), quilt batting and fringed top (right side up). Batting edges will be 3" shorter than quilt top and backing. Following manufacturer’s instructions, fuse quilt sandwich together.
8. Fringe outside edges of quilt through both layers. Tie together backing and fringed quilt top.
9. Using yarn/darning needle and 1⁄4" strips, tie center of each square to secure quilt top, batting and backing. Double knot.
10. Wash and dry quilt to fray fringe.

I changed the size of our quilt, so instead of 24, I used a total of 54 squares,  9 squares X 6 squares.
I did NOT use the 1/4" X 9" strips (step 9 above) to tie through the center of each square as in the Joanns version. (pictured below)

Joanns.com version

Pictured below is my granddaughter (Sept 2010) on the day I first gave her the quilt pieces (her 7th birthday).  

 

Below she is pictured tying the first pieces together.

Below is what our quilt looked like close up in the very beginning

It has now been exactly 2 years since we began our quilt together.  Could we have finished it sooner? YES.  But when Gwyneth comes to visit her Nana at the farm we get involved in so many projects and just plain having fun, that we wouldn't always make the time to work on the quilt.  It was a very fun project and we have lots of silly and good things to remember while making it together.  Like the time my goofy dog, Woodie, decided we needed to give him more attention than the quilt so he just jumped right in the middle of the coffee table on top of the quilt while we were working on it! 

The quilt is now finished.  Gwyneth just celebrated her 9th birthday so I folded it up nicely and boxed it in the original pretty container I had given her.  Then before she opened her birthday gifts at her party, she presented her finished quilt to all our family and friends.  You can see below she was very proud!

I hope as years go by she will always remember the fun we had making this quilt together and that it will instill in her an interest to make more quilts throughout her lifetime!