The Railroad Quilt

Edited 2/14/203 to correct a measurement error.

One of the quilts I made for the PCQ boy quilts drive, from a panel/kit they put together, is this railroad theme quilt. I think the panel was intended for placemats or pillows, so to make the quilt large enough for an older boy, I needed to add to it. I added railroad tracks. 

I pieced the top and passed it to another member of the club, who long-arm quilted it and passed it back to me for binding. Here it is finished. It came out approximately 45 x 60" or so.

A few weeks ago when I showed only the top, someone asked how I did the railroad tracks. Here's a closer view of them. 

To make the railroad ties, I cut 2" wide WOF strips from the brown and the background and pieced them together lengthwise. I don't remember how many strips I cut. From the lengthwise pairs, I cut a bunch of pieces 4-1/2" long and twice as many pieces at 1-1/2" long. I sewed the 4-1/2" pieces together side by side until I had enough length. Then I did the same with the 1-1/2" pieces, making two narrow strips the same length as the wider one. 

For the tracks, I cut 1-1/2" wide strips of black, enough for twice the length of the tracks. I sewed one black strip to each side of the 4-1/2" wide pieced strip. Then I sewed the 1-1/2" wide pieced strips to the outsides of the black. 

The track finished at 8" wide: 4" for the center, 1" for each rail, and 1" each for the RR tie extensions. 

Adding the tracks made the project more interesting for me, and I hope more appealing for the recipient, too. 

Link ups: 
Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Alycia Quilts