Brian/Val’s Unique Penguin Quilt

Here’s the story. My friend, Val, has a good friend, Brian. Apparently Brian has had an idea of a perfect blanket in his head for a long time and has frequently discussed his blanket idea with Val. Brian’s birthday is soon and Val decided to make him his perfect blanket. Val has never made a blanket before, so that’s where I come in. Brian’s issue with regular blankets is that when you are in a recliner with the footstool in the up position, there is never enough width on the blanket to tuck it under your legs in the space between the edge of the chair and the edge of the footstool. Brian thought a blanket that had extra flaps on the side in that area would solve his problem. So, Val and I created this blanket. Note: Brian also likes penguins.

The fabric was bought at Joann’s. It’s flannel. We had a hard time finding fabric that wasn’t baby-looking. Luckily we stumbled across the penguins. The layout is inspired by the “Baby, I Do” pattern. Picture of that quilt will be posted soon…I promise.

And there is the finished quilt top. Val cut and sewed it all by herself (with minor instructions/assistance from me). Pretty impressive for somebody who has never quilted/sewn before.

My office has extra glass tables. They work perfect for sandwiching a quilt, especially such an odd-shaped one.

Yes, that is me on the table in my work clothes tying the quilt. I’m quilting while I’m young because my knees definitely hurt afterwards and I’m not sure if I can do that when I’m older. I guess my sister will just have to have a little girl (or boy, I guess) so I can teach her or him to quilt. 🙂

And it’s finished! Excuse the crappy picture. Val takes much better pictures than I do…this is obviously my picture while the others are Val’s.

And that’s Val wrapped up in the quilt.

During this project, I also think Val caught the quilting bug. My master plan to convert all of my girl friends into quilters is working!