Steve's Ts

While technically not vintage, this project has been lurking around for literally half my life.

Thirty-plus years ago I was brand new to quilting, but I had plenty of novel ideas! That probably goes a far way toward explaining why it was I used washed and ironed dryer sheets as stabilizers for all these fabrics.

I wasn't much of a dryer sheet user myself, but I suspect I collected a never-ending supply of them from the community laundry rooms at the bases where we were stationed. Ever frugal: that's me in a nutshell.

But damn, I did a fine job of securing those "blocks" to their backs!

The top as I left it 30+ years ago measured 56" x 30". Long enough for a lap quilt, but not quite wide enough to be "cozy".

As it happened, I had a hunk of strangely not-quite flannel, not-quite brushed cotton fabric, recently given to me by a friend when she cleared out her craft supplies in preparation for moving.

I'm not even sure of its content, but there was enough to make 3.5" double borders for the two long sides (same border, front and back). Because of the thinness of the body of this "quilt", I didn't bother inserting any batting (or more dryer sheets) into the border.

Width correction taken care of, leaving one final problem: the space in the back where the various fabrics didn't quite come together:

Once again, "it" happened (as it does) that I had a scrap of neutral fabric left over from cutting out the Leader-Ender Challenge pieces. That became the label which will cover this spot nicely.

Binding has been sewn on and I'm in the process of hand-stitching it down. In a few more days The Loud will have something additional to throw over himself when the A/C lowers our home temperature to the sub-Arctic level of 78°.