Gary's Patio Quilt

In the winter we get the sun on our patio in the morning. My husband likes to sit out there, but when the air temp gets below 65 and it's breezy he gets a little chilly. He needs a quilt. He could take one of several we have in the house, but he "doesn't want to mess them up." Really? His favorite quilt is made of repurposed flannel shirts front and back. How "messed up" could it get, being used on the patio occasionally? 

Nevertheless, a new patio quilt is in order. It will be his Christmas present. And it will match our patio pillows. 

Remember in 2021 I made batik patio pillows? 

The fabric for them was made jelly roll race-style, story here. I cut wa-a-ay too many strips and ended up with an enormous panel of made fabric. After I cut the pillow covers, I had a piece as wide as you see here by about 74" long, with an extension even longer by about 16" wide, all seams going in the same direction. Here's the panel of made fabric before I cut the pillow pieces.

Enough for a good size throw if I seam the long extension to the side of the larger panel. It ended up somewhere in the 63" by 74" range (shown sideways here). Perfect for a large throw!

I still love all the batik fabrics in it, and the little squares sprinkled throughout like confetti.

The backing is plush brown flannel. I'm married to Mr. Flannel, and I think this quilt will feel cozy when he uses it. 

In order to keep this quilt a secret for Christmas, I worked on it at social sewing, piecing the backing and making the binding without him knowing about it. I had time on the long arm last Friday so I was able to quilt it in time for Christmas, with a simple loose meander to keep it soft and drapey.

Just as I had it off the long arm and was squaring it up and trimming away the batting and backing, he walked in on me in the quilting room. He wasn't supposed to be at the Creative Arts building until after 3:00 and this was about 2:30. Grrrr! I'm sure he recognized it since it's the same as our patio pillows which he uses all the time. He didn't say anything about it and neither did I, so the best I can hope is that he assumed it's yet another charity quilt since I work on so many. I don't think that's likely. 

Anyway I bound it at social sewing Wednesday this week and it's finished in time for Christmas. Whether or not it's a surprise for him, I think he'll like it and I'm sure he'll use it. Now it's gift wrapped and ready to give. I don't have a finished photo of it  yet, but I'll get one after he opens it on Christmas.